Bioshock Eternal
by Black Phoenix Risen
Summary: After 10 years of hunting down alternate versions of her father, Elizabeth is approached by a mysterious man who claims he can rid the infinite worlds of Zachary Comstock for good, but only if she puts complete faith in him. Will Elizabeth be able to put her past behind her and put her faith in the unknown if it means a chance at a peaceful life? T for violence and language.
1. The Stranger in the Diner

I do not own Bioshock, its locations, characters, or devices, that pleasure goes to 2K games and Irrational games. I also do not own Rapture's Delight, but I have no idea who owns it soooooo yeah. I do however; own my OC's and this story.

Chapter 1: A Stranger in the Dinner

A lone young woman reclined in a booth at the Watched Clock diner in Rapture City. She wore a white blouse with a blue scarf and a long blue skirt with black stockings and a pair of nice heels. She had short, raven hair and wide, blue eyes with smoky, blue eye shadow. She was gently dragging on a thin cigarette as her eyes closed and opened slowly, a testament to how tired she was. Hidden within the folds of her skirt lay her broadsider pistol.

The diner was fairly slow that night, only a few customers and four waiters. Maybe because it was just after midnight, maybe it was because it was Christmas Eve, and even if a majority of the population of the city was Atheist, they still were feeling the holiday spirit.

A waiter came to the woman's booth and placed a hot soup in front of her. "Third one tonight, ma'am." He said.

The woman let a cloud of smoke drift gently from between her lips before she grunted. "One night, huh?" she muttered, "For you maybe." She took another drag. "What year is it again?"

The waiter gave her a funny look. "It's 1947, ma'am. That's the third time tonight that you've asked."

The woman stabbed her cigarette into her napkin and shook her head. "Sorry," she said, "My mind has been on other things."

The waiter chuckled. "Well, how do you expect to keep the sweet on your brow if you can't keep your mind in your head?" The woman gave him a week smile at his joke as the young man walked away, gently shaking his head. She sighed and leaned back in her booth, closing her eyes and feeling the muscles in her back gently uncoil. She was trying to forget the events of the past few hours. The past few hours for her at least, here, she had been gone only a few minutes.

She took a moment to enjoy the sounds around her. She liked this diner. The wait staff shared a sense of camaraderie against their customers. It reminded her of how she and DeWitt had been in Columbia.

There was a gentle clink on the table. "I don't want another drink, thank you very much."

"Good, I didn't bring you one."

The woman opened her eyes and stared at the figure sitting opposite her in the booth. "Who are you?" she asked, one finger on her pistol. The figure was clearly male and young. He wore a grey and black striped shirt with a hood. He held his head down so that the hood covered most of his face as well. Strapped over his shoulder was a black messenger bag. He appeared to be unarmed, but the woman had learned a long time ago that looks could be deceiving.

The young man tapped his fingers against the table. He wore several heavy rings of various metals. "Who am I?" he pondered aloud, "Ain't that the million dollar question." The young woman decided to forgo pretense and simply put her gun on the table, in clear view of the stranger. "Easy, Anna, or Elizabeth, or whatever you're calling yourself these days." Said the man, throwing up his hands.

The woman, Elizabeth, sneered and cocked her firearm. "How do you know who I am?" she said through clenched teeth.

The strange young man waved away her question. "So, how long have you been doing it?"

Elizabeth clutched her gun with a trembling hand. "Doing what?"

The strange boy sighed and shook his head. "Please don't play stupid, Anna. I really don't have the patience for it."

"Elizabeth."

"Whatever. Can I butt a smoke?" Elizabeth frowned, unfamiliar with the term. The young man sighed. "Just give me a cigarette."

"I'm out."

The young man leaned back in his booth and grunted. "You avoided the question. How long have you been killing your father?"

Elizabeth was shaking. Her eyes were as wide as the gently cooling soup bowl in front of her. How did he know? "He-he's not my father." She managed.

The stranger scowled. "Is that how you've been justifying this to yourself? Kid, whether you're willing to admit it to yourself or not, Booker DeWitt was your daddy." Elizabeth gulped and glanced quickly down at her gun. "Now, I'll ask again; do you know how long you've spent traveling through time, space, and universes to torment and kill your father?"

Elizabeth stared at the part of the hood where the stranger's eyes should be, as if by simply staring, she could burn holes in the fabric and through the mysterious young man's skull. A single tear fell down her porcelain cheek. "No." she whispered, "I lost track a long time ago." Somewhere, a bell toll, sounding twelve long stokes of sound that reverberated through the water of the ocean, causing every window in Rapture to shake gentle from the vibrations. The wait staff cheered as they entered Christmas Day and the few remaining patrons to the dinner began to sing.

The young man turned away from Elizabeth and gazed at the small party that was congregating around the bar. "As of now," he said, "You have been hunting, torturing, and killing alternate versions of your dad for ten years, three months, eighteen days, and a few hours and minutes worth of change. Do you know what that means?"

Elizabeth was almost hyperventilating. This stranger knew every aspect of her life and had been tracking her all that time without her knowing it. She felt like she was back in her tower in Columbia, being watched from behind the walls. "No." she breathed.

"It means today is your twenty-eighth birthday." Said the young man, "Waiter! A Rapture's Delight, if you please!" Almost immediately, a man swung by the table to drop off the alcoholic beverage. "I'm not usually a drinker," said the young man, "Truth be told, where I come from, I'm under aged, but it's not every day that a lovely lady turns 28 right?" He took a sip and shivered from the taste. Elizabeth was trying to process everything. She was twenty-eight? She had spent ten years finding and killing DeWitts? "Why do you want to kill your father so badly anyway?"

The question shook her out of her reverie, if for no other reason than it was one she could actually answer. "If any versions of Dewitt exist, than they can potentially become versions of Zachary Comstock, who-"

The man threw up his hand to stop her. "Yes, I know the story. DeWitt had the choice to be baptized, if he did he would become Comstock, if he didn't he would become a gambler, yeah, I've heard it before." He took another sip of his drink. "What you fail to realize-" he stopped and lowered his head. "Are you gonna eat that? It's getting cold." Elizabeth used her gun to gently push the cooling soup towards the stranger. He pulled it closer to him and took the spoon from his napkin. "Hmm, not half bad." He commented after taking a spoonful, "Where was I? Ah yes. What you fail to realize is the scale with which you are working with. You've spent ten years doing this. How many DeWitts is that? 1,000? 10,000? How many DeWitts do you think are left?" Elizabeth felt her fear slowly creep back into her heart, being steadily replaced by frustration and anger. Who did this person think he was? The man took another sip of his drink.

Elizabeth took her bowl of soup and pulled it back towards herself. "I don't know how many DeWitt's I've killed," she said, "But each one of them deserved it. They gave me up to settle their debts. They gave me to Comstock."

The man barked a laugh. "I miss that," he chuckled with an air of nostalgia, "Thinking that everything was in black and white. But then I traversed the worlds and I learned differently." He took another drink, "Let me drop some knowledge on you, Lizzy. There are infinite worlds. I know you think you can see them all, but you can't, you can't even see a fraction of them. You can spend your entire life hunting down every single DeWitt, but when you die, there will still be infinite DeWitts to turn into infinite Comstocks that will inevitably cage infinite Elizabeths. What you do makes no difference to this fact."

Elizabeth was numb and breathing slowly. "Constants and variables." She said to herself in a vain attempt to steel her nerves, "Constants and variables."

The young man took another sip of his drink. It was half empty. "Things can only be constant for so long." He spoke solemnly, "But variables, they're the real constants. You can always count on there to be constantly changing variables." In one fell gulp, the young man tipped back the rest of his drink and sighed contentedly as he placed it on the table. The singing was dying down and people were beginning to meander out of the diner towards their homes. The wait staff was glancing anxiously at the odd pair in the booth, hoping they would leave soon so they could close up. The young man leaned forward and motioned for Elizabeth to do the same. She moved her gun so it was pointed directly towards the young man's heart. "Listen to me very closely, Elizabeth." He said, "As you well know, when you leave this diner, you can go in two directions. Going left will bring you downstairs to a lounge. Going right will bring you back towards Cohen's. If you go right, you will never see me again and you will be free to continue killing versions of your father until the world ends or you die, whichever comes first. It may be satisfying to see the man who put you through so much suffer, but the novelty must be wearing off after ten years, no? So that's option one. If you go to the left, however, you'll find me waiting in the lounge. If you go to me, you will pledge yourself to follow my ways and my methods, but if you do exactly as I say, then I can guarantee that Zachary Hale Comstock will never have existed in any world, behind any door. More than that, I can promise you the greatest reward of all." He leaned in closer, "I can make you a daughter again." He whispered. The man leaned back and dug in his pocket. He tossed a few bills on the table and stood up. "I'll only be waiting for a few minutes," he said as he walked out of the diner, "So make up your mind fast."

Elizabeth stared at the space where the young man had been sitting. For ten seconds, she did nothing but stare. Then she broke down. Tears poured out of her, ten years worth of regret and sorrow built up behind the dam of her vengeance. Damn her vengeance. She tossed her soup bowl aside and it shattered on the floor, spilling her remaining soup.

A waiter jumped up. "Hey!" he cried indignantly, "Don't you know who has to clean that!" Elizabeth was in no mood for this. She leveled her pistol at the waiter. The staff gasped and immediately scurried for cover at the sight of the weapon. For a few moments, the waiter stood stock still, his face white as the underside of a manta ray as the gun shook gently between his eyes. After what felt like an eternity for both parties, Elizabeth lowered her gun. The waiter let out a sigh of relief just before she brought the butt of the gun down on his head.

She left the diner and staggered over to the railing across the street. Before her was a massive window looking out over Rapture. A whale lazily drifted by, it's eye darting to her for a moment before deeming her insignificant enough to ignore.

Elizabeth clutched the railing tightly as she used it to pull herself along. She didn't trust her legs to work by themselves. She managed to make it to the stairs where she stopped and stared down into the lounge. The young man was reclining on a love seat with his hood covering his eyes. Elizabeth took a deep breath and too her first step down the stairs. She immediately tripped and fell, tumbling all the way down until she landed on her tailbone with a grunt. She groaned as she stood up and rubbed her sore lower back as she tried to ignore the pain.

She looked up to find the hooded figure standing with his arms crossed before her. "You understand that you are submitting to me." He said, "Once you come with me, you do everything I say, got it?"

Elizabeth slowly nodded. "Do you think you can really wipe out Comstock?"

The young man grinned, "You won't even have to go through any doors. Well, except this one." The young man snapped his fingers. It made a sharp sound like a firecracker that echoed around the lounge. A flash of light appeared behind him as a tear opened in the fabric of the reality.

Elizabeth gasped. "Is that-"

"You didn't think you were the only one who could travel between worlds, did you?"

Elizabeth stared at the tear in wonder. "Well, no," she reasoned, not taking her eyes off the rip, "The Luteces-"

"Bah! The Luteces!" The young man snarled, "Their stupid plans are what got us into this mess in the first place. If anything, you should want to wipe them out instead of Comstock, but I digress. You ready?" Without waiting for a response, the young man stepped through the tear. Elizabeth took a deep breath and followed him, giving Rapture one last look before tearing her gaze away to take in her new surroundings.

The first thing Elizabeth noticed was the heat. It was an intense humidity that caused her to sweat almost immediately. It was fairly dark where they were, but the world around them was lit by streams of liquid red light that flowed along the walls and the rooftops of the sprawling city below them. They were standing over a cliff of sorts, looking down onto a dark metropolis circling a massive lake of red magma.

They were inside a mountain, Elizabeth realized, the city was within a volcano. "Where are we?" she asked.

The young man walked ahead of her and breathe in deeply. "What is it that those troublesome twins always say? The more delicious question is when. Although the where is also a valid question." The young man pulled down his hood, revealing short brown hair with a thin, beaded braid hanging onto his shoulder. "Elizabeth Anna DeWitt," he announced, "This is Kiln City. Oh," he turned back to her, revealing the rugged chin, sparkling blue eyes, and distinctive face of a young Booker DeWitt, "And welcome to the twenty-first century."


	2. The City in the Volcano

Same disclaimer as in the previous chapter.

Chapter 2: The City in the Volcano

Elizabeth leveled her gun at Booker's face. There was no mistaking it; this was indeed Booker DeWitt. He looked to be about eighteen or nineteen, but his eyes were already filled with the same pain she had seen in Columbia. Unlike him, this Booker's eyes also contained the hope of youth. He had stubble across his chin and face and fewer worry lines than his alternate counterparts. Still, he was a DeWitt and must be killed to keep him from becoming a Comstock.

"So," muttered Elizabeth, angry at being tricked, "Were you hoping to kill me first? Or did you just want to distract me to keep me from ending you?"

Booker laughed heartily, which served only to increase Elizabeth's anger. She cocked the pistol with a loud click and Booker's laughter slowly died, but his smug grin remained. "Go ahead, kiddo." He said, holding his arms out to his side, "I can freeze the bullet in time. Or send it to another universe. Or make a tear to a universe where you don't shoot me. Constants and variables, remember?" Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Normally, she would spend time with the DeWitt and force him to confront the memories that had lead to his demise, but this one had frightened her, gotten into her head, so he would die as soon as possible. She pulled the trigger.

Time froze. The bullet halted abruptly in midair. Elizabeth tried to gasp, to move or blink, but nothing was working, her body was petrified. Booker didn't appear to have that problem. "Please," he said with a sigh, "If you're not the only one to be able to make tears, what makes you think you're the best at controlling time and space?" Booker grabbed the bullet from where it hovered and pointed it away from him. Time began again and the bullet flew off into the rock wall of the massive cavern.

Elizabeth stumbled back. "How did you-" she managed to gasp.

Booker waved her thoughts away. "It's not important. Listen, you hate me because alternate versions of me locked you in a tower and tortured you, right?" Elizabeth fumbled with her gun, her heart racing. Booker sighed and ricked the pistol out of her hand. "I hate you for killing me off for the last ten years. So we both hate each other. But the thing is that we share a common goal." Elizabeth scrambled backwards until her back was pressed against the rock. "We both want Comstock gone for good." Explained Booker, "But it'll take both of us to do it. And not alternate versions of ourselves, that won't work. It has to be us two." Booker held out his hand to help Elizabeth up. She refused his gesture and curled up in the fetal position, trying to process this. Booker sighed and collapsed to the ground next to her. For a few moments, they sat quietly, Elizabeth trying to stop her heart from cracking her rib cage, Booker waiting patiently for her to be ready.

"I was born here, you know." He said finally, "The whole city is actually carved into the inside of a super-volcano. It was 50,000 years overdue for an eruption, so the government carved out the cave to relieve the pressure, give the human race a few thousand more years." Elizabeth looked out at the city. It was a relatively flat city; the buildings looked like most of them didn't clear five stories. There were a few tall buildings jutting out here and there, but they were few and far between. The only defining landmark, as far as Elizabeth could see, was the massive pool of magma in the middle of the city. It looked to be almost a mile in diameter, and the heat from the lava was intense and could be felt even from several miles away.

"After they carved it out, the government had no idea what to do with it so they rented it out as a vacation hotspot, a stupid tourist trap." Continued Booker, "Course, it was only after the quarantine that people realized just how much of a hell hole this really was, no pun intended."

Elizabeth turned to Booker. "Quarantine?"

"Yeah, the heat is a great place for viruses to reproduce. Add that to shared EVE needles and an outside disease, this place became the Sprig capitol of the world."

"Sprig?"

"A disease. Shuts down your organs." Elizabeth reached for her pocket where she had a few more cigarettes. She drew one out. "I thought you said you were out." Commented Booker.

"Shut up." Was her curt reply. She was currently using the Incinerate! plasmid but needed more EVE. Fortunately, she had a spare cartage. She jabbed it into her wrist, wincing in pain.

"Careful with that," said Booker, "Plasmids and vigor are illegal now." Elizabeth gave him an inquisitive look as she snapped her fingers to lit her cigarette. "People didn't like that others could 'evolve' faster than them just by throwing money around." Booker explained with a shrug, "Anything that can artificially evolve you is now a Class A illegal contraband." Elizabeth grunted as she took a long drag. "You know, it's impolite to lie to your father, especially over a cig." Said Booker. He folded his hands behind his head as he leaned back against the wall.

Elizabeth took the cigarette out of her mouth and blew out a puff of smoke. "You talk too much."

Booker laughed. "That I do." He sighed contentedly and gazed out over Kiln City. With a grunt of effort, he stood up and cracked his neck. "We need to get moving. Our window of opportunity is starting to close, and even I can't manipulate time well enough to open it."

Elizabeth stood and brushed herself off. She bent to grab her gun and holstered it. "I don't trust you."

"Of course you don't, I gave you daddy issues. But you don't really have a choice. Try opening a tear." Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and stuck her cigarette back into her mouth. She put her hands together and concentrated, focusing deeply on her old tower back in Columbia. She could see the door and, with a wave of her hands, she opened it.

She opened a tear into nothingness. She could see into the hole she had made, and saw nothing but inky blackness. Her jaw dropped and the cigarette fell to the ground, where Booker quickly put it out. "My tears," she whispered in horror, "What happened to my tears?"

Booker put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently, "This is my world," he murmured, "In this reality, I'm the only one who can open the doors."

Elizabeth brushed his hand off and swiveled to glare at him. "So you mean I'm stuck with you?"

Booker held up his hands. "Hey, you came of your own free will. I didn't force you to do anything. But we can discuss the semantics of your predicament later, now we need to get moving." He reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a futuristic-looking sky-hook. It was a gauntlet with curved gears and spokes, not the sharp and deadly devices that Elizabeth had encountered in Columbia. With his open hand, he grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her close to him. "Ready?" he nodded to a sky-line jutting out of the rock a few feet above them. Elizabeth followed its path, seeing how it wound through rock formations down into the city. She gulped and clung to Booker, lacing her fingers around his waist. "Here we go!" cried Booker as he took a flying leap, pulling Elizabeth with him. He landed easily on the sky-line and immediately began to fall through the rock towards the city.

Elizabeth felt the wind stinging her eyes as she hurtled downwards. Together, they wove through stalagmites and stalactites. Elizabeth's heart was skipping every other beat, every sharp turn causing her to gasp as the centrifugal force forced her grip to lessen. "Where are we going?" She called over the noise of the rushing wind.

"The quarantined zone!" cried Booker, "We need to find the Family!"

Elizabeth looked up at Booker, the wind buffeting her cheek. "The quarantined zone? Are you insane?"

He grinned down at her. "Don't worry, we're immune, I think! Now hold on! We're almost at the wall!" Elizabeth turned her head and gasped. A section of the city was blocked off by a tall concrete wall. The sky-line they were on lead towards the wall, but then sharply veered of to the side. Beyond the wall, Elizabeth saw the broken ends of what was once probably a connected sky-line but had been cut off due to the quarantine.

It was a good ten feet gap between the curve and the end of the sky-line. "We'll never make it!" Elizabeth screamed, but Booker didn't seem to hear her. He crowed with delighted excitement as he shifted his weight and jumped right as the sky-line began the curve. For a moment, they flew through the air, looking like they wouldn't make it. But Booker's sky-hook made contact with the metal and latched onto the sky-line. The force of the jump broke the last bit of grip that Elizabeth had and she fell downwards with a scream.

Booker tried to grab at her, but missed as he sped forward on the line. "Look for the Family!" he cried over his shoulder as Elizabeth landed hard on the shingled rooftop ten feet below. "I'll meet you there!" Elizabeth groaned as she stood up and rubbed her sore back. She was lucky that the roof of the small house she had landed on was only ten feet below the sky-line. She sighed and looked around. She was standing in what looked like this city's version of suburbia, with small, two-story houses evenly spaced with cobbled streets. But the streets were overgrown with dry weeds and long grass. The city appeared to be empty and silent.

As Elizabeth turned, she did a double take as she saw that she was not alone on the roof. Standing at the edge was a cloaked figure. "Hey!" called Elizabeth, running towards the figure. "Can you help-" The figure raised it's hand, cutting her off. Elizabeth approached the edge and got a better look at the person. It wore white rags and wrappings stained with soot from head to toe, covered only by dark green jacket and a raggedy, brown, hooded cloak. With a steady hand, it pointed down off of the roof. Elizabeth followed its finger and gasped.

The house they stood on looked over what was once an undoubtedly nice town square. A rusted fountain lay cracked and ugly in the middle of a small intersection overgrown with people's uncared for lawns. What stood out, however, was the lone figure shambling around the fountain. It was a woman in a short dress. The dress was cut and ripped, but she didn't have much skin left to reveal. Her epidermis was falling off her, missing in large chunks. Her face looked like cracked, dry clay and her hair was falling out with every step, leaving a trail of strands behind her.

"Corpses," said the figure next to Elizabeth. Its voice was mechanic and unnaturally deep, clearly filtered. "Decedents of splicers. There's more plasmid in their bodies than blood. Without regular blood, their immune system fails, making them susceptible to Sprig. The heat cooks their skin right off while their insides burn and roast." Elizabeth gazed down upon the poor woman. In all of her years traversing multiple worlds, she had never seen something quite so horrible. At least the little sisters were left human. This thing was quite literally a walking corpse.

"How do they live?" she whispered.

"They don't. That's why I exist." The gunshot was a total surprise. Elizabeth had not seen the figure draw its weapon. The corpse below stopped moving and fell over, a smoking hole in the back of its skull.

Elizabeth turned sharply to the killer, who blew the smoke away from the barrel of its shotgun. "Was that necessary?" she demanded, one hand on her own gun.

The figure shrugged. "It was a mercy killing. Those things are in constant pain. Besides, if they see you, they attack you. They think regular blood can get them back to normal." The figure pulled back its hood and pulled the wrappings away from its face. It was a man with pale, calloused skin. He had ash black hair with a matching goatee. His face was angular and pointed, with defined cheek bones. "Name's Silas Ryan. I heard your friend say you were looking for the Family, right?"

Elizabeth looked down off the roof, trying to find the best way possible to descend. There was a metal pipe that probably once pumped water to the second floor that looked promising. "He's not my friend." She muttered absentmindedly while she slowly lowered herself to her knees and swiveled herself around so that she was hanging off the roof right above the pipe. "You say Ryan? Like Andrew Ryan?"

Silas leaned down and watched Elizabeth fall down onto the pipe. "Yeah. In a loose sense of a way, he's my great-grandfather."

Elizabeth looked up, speaking what was on her mind before she could filter it. "I'm sorry you have to be related to that monster."

They shared an awkward silence before Silas cleared his throat. "Well anyway," he said, "Finding the Family isn't exactly easy. They control the whole quarantine zone, but they stay hidden to protect themselves from the guards and corpses."

Elizabeth dropped down to the pipe and slid down slowly. She hit the ground with a grunt and drew her gun. "Guards?" she called up.

"Yeah, they patrol occasionally. Kill anyone they find." Silas hesitated, "You aren't from around here, huh?" He jumped from the roof and landed with a roll and a crouch on the ground.

Elizabeth wandered forward into the square. "What gave you that idea?"

Silas chuckled, "Well, your clothes for one. Not exactly practical for a place where the average temperature is in the mid-eighties."

Elizabeth wiped her brow, covering her sleeve with her sweat. "Point taken." She said, rolling up her sleeves.

"You didn't know about the guards, corpses, or the Family either, so it was really quite obvious."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Look," she said, "What is the Family?"

Silas grinned. "Well, truth be told, it's my family." Elizabeth glanced up in surprise as Silas shrugged. "Yeah, my mom, aunts, and grandpa came from Rapture and lived in the country for a few decades and when this place opened, they came here. Mom died in the quarantine, but my aunts, cousins, and I pretty much run this place." Elizabeth raised her gun towards Silas. "Hey! What?" Elizabeth fired, the bullet missing Silas by inches as it soared over his shoulder and into the head of the corpse that had snuck up on him. Silas turned around and stumbled backwards into the grass. "Um, thanks." He said, giving Elizabeth a strange look, "You handle that gun pretty well. You sure you're not from around here?"

Elizabeth swung around, looking for more corpses, but she didn't see any. "Yeah," she said, "I'm from Columbia. Listen, can you take me to your family? I need t find the man I was with to get home." Silas grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. "What?" she asked as he leaned down and stared deep into her eye.

He took a deep breath. "Listen, uh…"

"Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth, I really don't know how to tell you this, but," he hesitated. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. He sighed. "Columbia fell into the Himalayas back in the 70s'."

Elizabeth blinked and her jaw dropped in surprise. "How? The quantum particles were self-replicating! It was supposed to fly forever!"

Silas shrugged. "Nobody knows. The whole city just fell into Nepal, nearly demolished Everest." Elizabeth had to sit down and fell onto the soft, dry grass. She had been to thousands of worlds, but in every world there were certain things that had remained the same, constants. Columbia was always in the sky, Rapture was always under the ocean, and the Red Sox always won the 1915 World Series. Granted that she had never been beyond 1965, but she had figured that every universe in every time would have something constant, something to keep it grounded.

In the last half-hour, she had had her entire perception of reality twisted into unrecognizable conditions by a teenaged version of her father who had somehow copied and improved on her powers. Silas sat down next to her. "Hey," he murmured as he gently stroked her back, "Everything's alright."

Elizabeth shot him a glare. "Do I look like I'm crying?"

Silas withdrew his hand. "It wouldn't be a crime if you did."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "It's not what you think. There was nothing in that city left for me." Silas hesitated, unsure of what to say or do. Elizabeth sighed and stood up. She had been to many worlds with many differences, and if she had learned one thing, it was how to adapt. She just had to adapt much more than usual to this world. She motioned with her gun hand to Silas. "Would you kindly take me to your family?"

Silas grinned. "You think that little mind trick works on me? No, I'm not biologically related to Grandpa Jack, but I'll take you anyway, it looks like you need a family." He stood and pointed towards a street leading out of the square. "Shall we?"


	3. The Hidden Family

Same disclaimers as before

Chapter 3: The Hidden Family

Silas led Elizabeth through the empty winding streets of the quarantined zone. The place was a labyrinth, filled with tight alleys and violent curves. Silas lead Elizabeth by the hand, an experience she found to be somewhat enjoyable. It had been a long time since she had had such contact with another human. Every now and again they would run into a gaggle of wandering corpses, but Silas would quickly back off into the shadows, pulling Elizabeth with him.

"Got to conserve ammo where possible." He explained, "You've no idea how hard it is to smuggle munitions past the wall."

Elizabeth lost her left shoe in the tall grass as they ran through the maze. She winced in discomfort and took a moment to kick off her other high-heel. "Those were from Paris, 1920." She grumbled, "Where are we going?"

"The Forest," Silas said, not looking back, "It's where we hide."

"There's a forest down here?"

Silas pulled her around a final corner and stopped. "In a manner of speaking." They had reached what appeared to be the end of the city limits. A few yards away from where they stood, a sudden mass of stalagmites jutted out of the earth, so huddled together and tall that they did, in fact, look like a forest. Silas lead Elizabeth towards the 'trees'. "C'mon."

Elizabeth pulled back, tugging her hand out of Silas's grip. "How are we supposed to get in there?" she asked, "It's far too tight, there's no way we can fit."

Silas smiled. "That's what they want you to think." Silas grabbed one of the stalagmites closest to them and twisted his wrist. There was a light clicking sound and the stalagmite slid into the ground.

Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise. "That's neat."

Silas snorted. "This? This is all old tech, nothing down here is any newer than 1978. That's when the government completely shut down all entrances and exits to the city."

"What happened in 1978?" Silas led Elizabeth over the hole where the stalagmite had rested. Beyond it was a narrow dirt path that wove between the rocks. As they stepped onto the path, the stalagmite slid up and back into place, hiding them.

"The Sprigs outbreak. The government actually quarantined the whole city, but after they cut us off from the outside, city officials managed to trap the contaminated into this quarter of the city and seal it off, but the government didn't believe us and were too afraid to send in experts to check." As Silas spoke, he walked in front of Elizabeth along the path, "Hey, so, my family is a little…bizarre. Just…just be cool, okay?" He glanced back nervously as the air slowly began to fill with the sounds of civilization. Around the final stalagmite, Elizabeth found herself facing a massive clearing, a medium sized crater in the ground lined with small wooden and rock huts. In the center of the clearing was a small pool of lava, boiling and giving off a pleasant, hearth-like sensation. The ground beneath her bare feet was rocky and dirty, but it was also warm and soft, like stones along a riverbed that had soaked in the sun too long.

It was more than just the heat. The homey aura came more from the dozens of people moving around the pool, talking and relaxing in the heat. Their clothes were simple and Elizabeth saw that most of their possessions were made of cooked clay, but despite their meager items, she saw a wide, contented smile on almost every face. And what a wide variety of faces; the elderly, young, and middle-aged all mixed together, discussing random topics. Most of the people had deep tans and thick skin, likely a result of working and living inside a volcano for a generation or two. Some, however, had pale skin like Silas. These people, Elizabeth assumed, were with the Family. "Well, c'mon," Silas motioned for Elizabeth to follow him. They walked around the crowd rather than through it.

They came to one of the huts made of wood and sandstone. The door was just a large canvas of cloth hung over the entrance. Silas pulled it back and motioned Elizabeth through.

Inside, 5 pale middle-aged women sat on rugs, huddled around a candle. They had long, grey hair and matching sad eyes that gazed unblinking at the tiny flame. Each one wore an identical brown robe. "Hey guys," greeted Silas.

"Hello, Silas. Was your trip outside productive?" asked one of the women.

"Well Aunt Masha, I picked off a few corpses, found half a canteen of water, and Elizabeth here." The women looked up to look at Elizabeth.

One of them scoffed. "Look at 'er, she's got Rapture written all over her."

"Now, now, Susie, let's not judge based on where she comes from." Scolded another woman, "Just because we had bad experiences in that city, doesn't mean that everyone from there's despicable. Think of father." The woman named Susie harrumphed and folded her arms, turning back to the candle.

"Besides," Elizabeth piped up, "I'm actually from Columbia." The woman who spoke first, Masha, stood up and approached her with shuffled steps. She looked carefully at the girl, who glanced at Silas in confusion as the old lady was staring at her. Silas shrugged and motioned for her to just accept the scrutiny.

After a few moments of staring deeply into Elizabeth's eyes, Masha motioned to her sisters. "You should probably see this, girls." The others stood and walked towards the stationary girl, slowly surrounding her to view her from all angles.

"Columbia, huh?" said one.

"Looks like it to me," said another, "I'll be damned if that choker isn't Columbian made." Elizabeth subconsciously put a hand to her choker. It was the same one that her father had picked for her in Columbia when she had first left the tower.

That reminded her. "I'm looking for Booker DeWitt," she said, "He said he'd meet me with the Family." The women looked at one another and back to Elizabeth.

"We don't know any DeWitts, dearie," said Masha.

"Silas, child, do you know anyone named DeWitt?" asked Susie.

Silas shrugged and took of his cloak, folding it over his arm. "Can't say I do, but she came in over the old sky-line. DeWitt might be someone beyond the wall." The women murmured to each other, speaking too low for Elizabeth to hear.

"Silas," one of them finally said, "Why don't you take your friend and get some diner. We need to talk some things out."

Silas nodded and took Elizabeth by the hand, leading her out of the hut. "Sorry about them." He said with a sheepish grin, "They don't know where they are half the time."

"They don't look that old."

Silas nodded as he pulled Elizabeth through the crowd, drawing interested and confused looks from onlookers. "They were Little Sisters once," he explained, "All that brainwashing left them with some mental issues. Luckily my Grandpa Jack was able to reverse most of it. C'mon, you must be hungry." Elizabeth had actually eaten only an hour or so ago at the Watched Clock diner in 1947 Rapture, but let Silas pull her along until they reached the lava pool. The heat was searing, making her sweat profusely.

Silas released her hand to tap the shoulder of one of the women cooking by the lava. The woman turned to him and smiled brightly. "Silas! How've you been?"

"Not bad Julia. Got any eats?"

The woman handed Silas a clay bowl of bubbling black tar. "Careful now, it's a bit tart."

Silas nodded. "Do you have any spare shoes?" Julia shrugged and took off hers. Silas turned and handed them to Elizabeth. They were moccasins and were a little large, but Elizabeth was grateful for the covering. Silas looked at Elizabeth strangely. She looked down to realize that she still had her hand outstretched from when he was holding it and leading her. She quickly let it drop to her side.

Silas cocked his head to the side. "Are you alright?"

Elizabeth nodded and breathed heavily, hoping that the heat in her face was from the lava. "It's just…I've never really had much human contact before, so…" she let the statement hang, but Silas seemed to understand. He motioned for her to sit down as he himself fell to the rocky floor. Elizabeth slowly collapsed to her knees as Silas took a pair of wooden spoons from his wrappings. He handed one to Elizabeth, placed the bowl in between them, and dug in. He vigorously slurped up the slimy liquid. Elizabeth cringed. "I, ah, actually just ate."

Silas shrugged. "More for me."

Elizabeth watched him eat and soon the bowl was half depleted. "So, those women were your aunts?"

Silas wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Yep."

"Do you know why they were looking at me like that? What were they looking for?"

Silas shrugged. "Could have been anything from a stitch out of place on your blouse to a wrong crease in your skirt. I honestly don't know what they do half the time, but they manage to keep everyone around here happy and healthy so we don't complain."

Elizabeth hesitated before asking. "They were Little Sisters. So does that mean your mother-"

"She was a one too." Silas interrupted, "Yeah, apparently Grandpa Jack had a lot of trouble rehabilitating her, but he got her to calm down eventually." There was a brief silence between them as the people around them talked.

Elizabeth was a naturally curious woman, as she had been as a girl. She always wanted to know more, to understand how and why things worked. While this was likely a result of her long-term imprisonment and therefore not her fault, it had often caused her to be tactless and sometimes outright rude without knowing it. That said, she was working on trying to curb her inquisitive nature. For example, she was currently trying her damndest not to ask Silas how his mother died.

"Sprigs," he said, not looking up from his meal, "I know you want to ask. Sprigs got her when I was ten."

Elizabeth nodded and looked into the lava uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."

Silas just shrugged as he brought the bowl to his lips and slurped down the last of the ooze. He placed the bowl to the side and he leaned forward towards Elizabeth. "What's it like out there?" He asked.

"Pardon?"

"You came from outside, right? You said you're from Columbia, I don't know how, but that means you've been outside. I just want to know what it's like."

Elizabeth sighed and leaned back, trying to find the right words. "The sky," she murmured, "You never realize just how blue it is until you can't see it anymore." She closed her eyes and talked about the Columbia she knew. She talked about the few minutes she'd had to herself right after she had been freed from her tower when Booker fainted in the faux beach. She remembered the music and dancing, the feel of the rough, sandy wood of the pier under her bare feet. And the smells, oh the smells! The sickly sweet scent of the candies and the gentle breeze that played through her nose flashed in her memory.

She spoke of the cities she had visited from around the world and the people she'd met. She did not speak, however, of her father or her ability; there were some things that should remain private. She didn't know how long she had been talking, but when she finished, she opened her eyes to see that the entire encampment was staring at her in awe. Nobody spoke as Elizabeth looked around awkwardly, embarrassed that so many people were paying attention to her.

"Well, thanks for making it easier for me." Elizabeth looked up to see a hooded Booker grinning down on her. People around them began to start speaking to each other again, occasionally shooting quick, intrigued glances at Elizabeth. Booker sat down next to her and nodded to Silas. "Good to see you again, man."

Silas looked back and forth between Elizabeth and Booker. "I'm sorry," he said, confused, "Do I know you?"

Booker looked around the lava pool. Leaning forward, he took a bowl of rock-like food from the rim of the pool and pulled it onto his lap. "Apparently not in this version of this world," he said, popping a stone into his mouth and crunching loudly, "Mmm. Just like mama made 'em." Silas glanced at Elizabeth, looking for answers. She shrugged and rolled her eyes as her biological father munched on the strange food.

Eventually, Booker put aside the bowl and held his hand out to Silas. "Booker DeWitt, I'm her dad." Silas took his hand and shook it, looking at Elizabeth in shock.

She sighed. "It's a long story."

Booker barked a laugh. "Understatement of the century. Unfortunately, we don't really have the time to explain the whole thing, but I'm glad Elizabeth found you. We're going to need a Ryan."

Elizabeth fixed Booker with a glare. "I think you need to start talking."

Booker nodded and cracked his neck. "Fair enough, let's talk about how we're gonna kill Comstock."


	4. The Best Laid Schemes

Same disclaimer as before. Thanks to Ser Serendipity for being both my first positive review and my first review period!

Chapter 4: The Best Laid Schemes

Booker shifted on the ground so he was facing more towards Elizabeth than Silas.

"Okay," he said, huddling closer, "Every world that exists in any reality is born from another world. Any decision ever made results in infinite universes branching off of that world, leading to infinite possible parallel worlds, leading to infinite planes of reality."

Elizabeth cocked an eyebrow. "So?"

"So what happens in one world inevitably effects what happens in all the worlds branching off of it." Booker hesitated, "Do you remember killing me for the first time?" Elizabeth cringed slightly. She had killed hundreds of versions of her father without pity or remorse; he had deserved it after all. But now she had him here, staring intently into her eyes, as if daring her to say no. It made her feel naked and vulnerable. Booker grinned, obviously enjoying how uncomfortable he had made her.

Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Yes, I remember."

Booker's grin, if possible widened. "In another world, you couldn't do it." He said under his breath, "You broke down and hugged me instead. In another world, you fought with the alternate versions of yourself. In another, you killed yourself instead. The possibilities were endless and they all exist in infinite worlds. But what if you had never taken me back to the river? What if you had just gone with me to Paris like I asked you?"

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment. Suddenly, the penny dropped and she realized the truth. "It would take the choice out of my hands," she whispered, "We would never be at the river and I wouldn't be able to kill you." Booker nodded as he leaned backwards, satisfied that Elizabeth knew what he was talking about. There was a moment of silence between them before Elizabeth motioned for Booker to continue.

He stared at her incredulously. "Are you serious?" he said, "Isn't it obvious?" Elizabeth folded her arms and glared at him. Booker turned to Silas, "Can you believe this?" He muttered, "You know what I'm talking about, right Si?"

Silas had his jaw on the rock ground. His eyes were as wide as silver eagles and twice as bright. He was slowly tuning his head back and forth between Elizabeth and Booker. "What," he said slowly, "Are you two talking about?"

Booker rolled his eyes and turned back to Elizabeth, clearly annoyed that his point wasn't quite getting across. "If every decision made is influenced by the world it was born from, than how far back can you go?"

Elizabeth groaned in frustration and drew her pistol from the folds of her skirt. For the second time in an hour, Elizabeth put the barrel of her gun between Booker's eyes. "Spit. It. Out." She said through grit teeth.

Booker lost his grin and put his hands up in surrender. "Apparently you're forgetting what happened last time you shot me, but time isn't on our side." He shifted until he was on his knees. "There has to be an origin point, a place where reality began. No matter what you believe, there has to be a specific world where all of existence started. Now, imagine every universe as part of a giant tree." Booker quickly drew a rough tree in the rocky dirt with his finger. "The first world would be the root," he said pointing to the bottom of his tree, "So, if preventing a choice in one world can keep infinite worlds from springing up as a result, what happens if you prevent a choice in the first world that ever existed, the world that gave birth to all other worlds?" It clicked. Elizabeth gasped as she stared down at the tree in the dirt. Her gun hand dropped to her side and the pistol fell out of her hand. It was so simple, yet so complex.

"If we can kill Comstock in the first world…" she said, unable to fully process what she had just learned.

Booker smiled gently and picked up her gun. He held it by the barrel and held it out to her. "Then we can keep Comstock from ever existing in any world. He literally will never have existed." Elizabeth took her gun back with shaking hands, eyes still transfixed on the tree.

Silas threw up his hands. "What is going on?" he hissed angrily.

Booker stood up and brushed himself off. He swept his foot over his tree, pulling Elizabeth out of her daze. Booker stretched out both his hands to help Elizabeth and Silas to their feet. Elizabeth was weeping quietly. Finally, after ten years, this was the answer. She could finally kill Comstock once and for all. "No time to explain, Silas my man." Said Booker, "In fact, we need to go," he hesitated and closed his eyes.

There was a sudden scream from the rear of the camp. Elizabeth and Silas turned and the crowd parted, quickly running away in terror from the hut where Elizabeth had met with the former Little Sisters. One of them, Susie if she remembered correctly, had stumbled out of the hut, her hand around her throat. It was bleeding profusely as she struggled to breathe or speak. The people began to panic, grabbing young children and heading for the path out of the stalagmite forest. Silas jumped up and drew a serrated knife from his wrappings as Elizabeth got to her feet and held her gun at the ready. Booker's eyes snapped open and he smiled, drawing what looked like a brand new Paddywhacker gun from his messenger bag. "Now." He murmured, spinning around.

Silas leapt forward. "Aunt Susie!" he cried. He had barely taken a few steps when the hut exploded. The sandstone flew outwards and as Elizabeth and Booker ducked, the fire spread to the thatched roof of the next hut over. Silas slid under the flying sandstone and rolled to a crouch next to his dying aunt. From the fires of what was once the hut, a shadow slowly stood up. It was tall and muscular, an imposing figure that seemed totally unaffected by the fires around it. Booker raised his gun and began firing off shots. The shade dodged behind some remains of the hut for cover.

Elizabeth aimed her weapon and was about to fire when she felt a rumbling beneath her feet. She looked down just in time to see a massive drill emerge from the ground. She stumbled backwards, just barely missing the deadly tool as it speared into the air she had just occupied. The drill retracted briefly as Elizabeth shuffled backwards in horror. From the hole emerged a massive, metal dome followed by a familiar mechanical body.

Elizabeth tripped backwards, falling to the ground as she scrambled away from the emerging figure. "Holy Crap!" she screamed, "Is that a Big Daddy?" The massive beast gave a mechanical roar in response as it leveled its drill at Booker. With a bang, the drill shot forward. Booker dodged to the left and turned his gun to the Big Daddy. As the drill retracted on its cable, Booker shot the remainder of his magazine at the giant cyborg. The bullets left nicks and dings, but none penetrated the Daddy's thick armor.

"Shit," Booker swore. He tossed his empty gun away as the Daddy stalked towards him.

Silas dove forward towards the hut and slashed his knife at the shadowy figure. "Everyone get to the wall!" He shouted to the last remnants of the encampment, struggling to fit themselves through the tight passage, "Get free or die trying!" The Big Daddy turned from Booker and saw the assassin engaging with Silas. With a screech, it spun around and charged to the assassin's defense. Silas felt rather than saw the beast rumbling towards him and he strafed backwards to dodge the onslaught. As the Big Daddy missed its target, the assassin leapt forward and wrapped its arms around the Big Daddy's head, latching onto the steel bars of it's helm. As one, the Big Daddy and assassin turned their attention back to Booker, who was now scrambling in his messenger bag for spare ammo. With a combined cry of human fury and metal rage, the Big Daddy ran forwards at speeds that would shame a train. Booker barely had time to look up before they were almost upon him.

"No!" A wave of fire erupted between the Big Daddy and Booker. The beast screeched to a halt, its rider just inches from the flame. The assassin turned to face this new threat; a thin young woman in a dirty white blouse and a ripped blue skirt. Elizabeth tossed a used EVE cartage into the lava pool, her face fixed in a determined glare at the assassin. One hand held her pistol while the other was covered in flame. "Why don't you play with me." She growled.

Elizabeth had known Silas's aunts for all of two minutes, but they seemed like nice enough people. They had kept this secret camp safe for a few decades at least. They hadn't deserved to die, but for whatever reason, this shade of a killer and a rogue Big Daddy had ended all of them and demolished the camp. Now, they were attempting to kill the first source of hope for normalcy that Elizabeth had met in ten years. Not a chance in hell, not if she could help it.

She waited for the assassin to make the first move, but neither the figure nor the Big Daddy moved. Silas ran to Elizabeth's side and raised his knife in a defensive position. "Got a spare?" he whispered to her. She shot a glance at him and saw his face was covered in soot from the fire of the hut. The black dust was slowly being wiped away by his tears. She shook her head and Silas grit his teeth. "So, that's what a plasmid does, huh?" he muttered, "Never saw one before." The assassin lowered its head and patted the Big Daddy's domed helmet. The Daddy straightened up as the assassin jumped down from its perch. Calmly, the assassin placed its hands together and slowly pulled them apart.

Elizabeth gasped in surprise as a tear opened in front of the assassin. "Impossible!" screamed Booker from beyond the fire.

The assassin turned to him and raised its finger to point accusingly. "This isn't over," the assassin called in a distinctly female voice, "Not even close." With that, the Big Daddy grabbed the woman and jumped through the tear, closing it as they passed into a different world.

Elizabeth's jaw dropped and Silas dropped his knife to his side. The fire wall protecting Booker burned away, revealing a very nervous and confused looking DeWitt. For a few moments, nobody moved or spoke.

Finally, Silas broke the silence. "I have some serious questions to ask."

Booker shook his head, stirring himself from his fears. "Not now. We need to get to safety, outside the quarantine zone." Booker put his gun back in his messenger bag and ran towards the path. Elizabeth and Silas followed him, both very confused as to what had just happened.

It looked as if everyone had made it through the pathway safely, despite the fact that the stalagmite that hid the camp had been blown away. Once they emerged into the streets, however, they saw several corpses dragging and cannibalizing the fresh cadavers of campers. Silas threw his knife with expert accuracy at one of them. The knife plunged through the corpse's skull and it slumped over the pale boy it was eating. "Nobody eats Cousin Matt." He said angrily as he continued after Elizabeth and Booker.

It had taken a while for Elizabeth and Silas to get to the camp, but they had been sneaking past corpses. There was no need for such subtly now as they ran down the main street, leading them directly towards the wall

"I thought you were the only one who could open tears in this world!" shouted Elizabeth as they ran towards the wall.

"Later!" replied Booker as he punched the head off of a fragile corpse that charged him. Elizabeth was going to retort, but a loud siren cut off her train of thought.

"The alarm!" cried Silas, "They've broken through the wall!" Indeed, they could see the wall in the distance, smoking and on fire with a massive hole in the center. As they got closer, they saw the remaining campers engaged in a fierce fist-fight battle with dozens of stocky men with white military uniforms and hoods.

"We'll never make it through!" Elizabeth declared as they stopped running.

Booker panted and pointed down the street to their left. "I wouldn't say that." A host of corpses were half-running, half- shuffling towards the scent of fresh blood and the sounds of combat.

Silas jumped forward. "They'll kill everyone!" he gasped.

Booker shoved his hand into his bag. "No, they won't." He withdrew a small vial of brown liquid. He uncorked it and drained the entire vial in on gulp. He shuddered as his taste buds burned in agony. "God, stuff tastes like chicken shit."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "What was that? I've never seen a vigor like that before."

"It's called Darwin." Replied Booker. He raised his hands towards the approaching force of corpses, "As long as something's got an artificial evolution aid in it, I can control it. I'll keep them away from the campers." He twisted his wrists like a conductor just as the first wave of corpses hit the ensuing battle.

They were like locusts. Faster than the naked eye could follow, every guard was suddenly dealing with a half-dozen corpses apiece, and each one wanted a piece of them. The campers were surprised that the corpses weren't targeting them, but, seemingly as one, they decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and ran beyond the wall, into the rest of the city.

Booker grinned as he ran forward. Elizabeth and Silas exchanged a look before they followed him. They ran through the hole in the wall, copying Booker's movements through the empty city. The siren must have been an instruction for the people of the city to find shelter because the streets were deserted, with sales wagons tipped over and children's toys left abandoned on the curbs. "Here!" said Booker, "I've got a safe house." He stopped at an inconspicuous little brownstone building. The odd trio quickly sauntered up the steps as Booker drew a key ring from his bag. Without even looking, he flipped the correct key into the lock and turned. The door opened and Elizabeth and Silas were ushered inside.

It was dusty and dark inside. The entire first floor was open and devoid of furniture with stairs leading to the second floor on the far wall. For a full minute, the group panted and caught their breath. When he was ready, Silas swiveled angrily on the others, fully prepared to unleash his furious wrath. Instead, he broke down crying and fell to his knees. Booker and Elizabeth leaned down next to him as he sobbed wordlessly. "Lizzy," Booker said softly, "There's a couple of bedrooms upstairs. Why don't you get some rest, hmm?" Elizabeth nodded. From the second she had met this Booker at the diner in Rapture, she had felt the need for a break, if only to wrap her head around the situation. And things had only gotten more complex and confusing since then.

"You owe me a lot of answers, Mr. DeWitt." Immediately, the name felt wrong in her mouth. It was what she had always called alternate versions of her father, but she had never met one so young before. Formality did not suit him.

"Call me Booker," he said as he rubbed the mourning Silas's back, "You always have. I'll answer your questions after you rest. We all need it."

Elizabeth stood. "I thought you said we didn't have much time?"

"Would you just shut up and go to bed already?"

Elizabeth scowled. "Fine, but I want my answers." She turned and marched to the stairs. She began to mount them but stopped. "One more thing. If you call me Lizzy again, I'll kill you in your sleep."

Booker shrugged. "Fair enough. Do you prefer Eliza? Or maybe Beth? How about Lizbeth?"

Elizabeth fought the urge to draw her gun again. "Just Elizabeth will do." She said as curtly as she could manage given the circumstances. Booker smirked and went back to comforting Silas. Elizabeth went upstairs. She found herself a bed room with a twin sized bed in it. The bed had rusty, squeaky springs, but that didn't matter. She collapsed on it and felt every muscle in her body loosen, like she had just exhaled all the stress of the last three hours. After half a breath, she had entered the deepest sleep of her life.


	5. Perchance to Dream

Same disclaimers as before

Chapter 5: Perchance to Dream

Elizabeth had always had negative experiences with dreams. When she was a child, she sometimes would dream of life beyond the prison walls, or of her playing with the Songbird. As she got older, her dreams became more violent. She could remember the first time she dreamed about hurting the Songbird. She'd woken up and cried for hours, she couldn't even look her Songbird in the face the next day.

However, since Booker had saved her in Columbia, Elizabeth's dreams had become more-like memories, nightly visitations to points in her life.

Tonight, she was dreaming of her first kill. In a daze, she felt Daisy Fitzroy's warm blood splatter across her ripped shirt. The child she had been threatening ran to safety as Booker gazed at her sadly through the glass.

"Hmm," said a familiar voice behind her, "Fascinating. I would think that your mind would sooner jump to the first time you killed your father." Elizabeth spun around and raised the scissors clenched tightly in her hand. Their sharp tips were millimeters away from the exposed, pale neck of Robert Lutece. The man didn't move, nor did he seem to register he was being threatened.

Elizabeth frowned. This was wrong. "What are you doing here?"

Robert daintily pushed the scissors away from him. "I am here to warn you." Elizabeth folded her arms and waited. Robert remained tightlipped as he stood stock still.

Elizabeth threw up her hands impatiently. "Well?" she demanded, "What is it?"

Robert cringed. "I, ah, made an agreement with my sister, you see. I'm afraid I can't tell you exactly _what_ I wanted to warn you about. All I can tell you is that I have to warn you about something."

Elizabeth stared at him. "So your presence here is entirely pointless?

"Mmm. Quite."

Elizabeth sighed and leaned against a pipe. She glanced at the window and saw that instead of Booker, Silas was now peering in looking totally confused. "Oh Christ," she muttered, "I'm dreaming, aren't I." Robert nodded with a smile. Elizabeth glanced up at him. "How are you in my dream?"

Robert cocked an eyebrow. "Is it a dream, though? Or is it a separate world that your consciousness goes to during a state of deep sleep?"

Elizabeth cracked her knuckles. "Don't mess with my head, Lutece. I'm not in the mood."

Robert gave a light chuckle in response. "Was that supposed to intimidate me? I exist in all places and all points in time simultaneously; do you honestly think that you could hurt me?"

Elizabeth nashed her teeth audibly. "Don't know, but I'm willing to find out."

Robert sighed contentedly. "It would appear as if the Elizabeth I knew in Columbia is long gone."

Elizabeth twirled the scissors like a professional knife thrower. "Why did you make that deal with Rosalind?" asked Elizabeth, "It defeats the whole point of warning me if you can't tell me what I'm in danger of."

Robert cleared his throat and grinned sheepishly. "My sister has decided to, how should I put this? Abandon you to your fate?"

Elizabeth grunted. "What does that mean?"

"That she is tired of dealing with all this 'inter-dimensional nonsense', as she said. She has elected to return to her home reality and stay there. She wanted me to do the same, but…" he trailed off, looking at Elizabeth with sad eyes.

"But what?" she asked.

Robert waved her question away. "It does not matter. She did, however, manage to convince me to limit my involvement in the affairs of the alternate realities. But I simply could not resist giving you a bit of a heads up as to your situation."

"But what's the point of giving me a heads up if you can't tell me what I'm in danger o? My life is constant danger, if you can't narrow it down for me, then what's the point?" There was a knocking on the window. Elizabeth and Robert looked over to see a very stern looking Rosalind Lutece standing where Silas had been. She glared at Robert through the glass and slowly walked away, trying to find a way in.

Robert quickly looked around, making sure they were alone for the moment. After he made sure Rosalind wasn't around to hear him, he leaned in close to Elizabeth. "Can you keep a secret?" he whispered. Elizabeth nodded slowly and cautiously as Robert gently touched her forehead.

Everything went white for a moment before Elizabeth found herself looking down on…herself. She was watching herself being tortured by Comstock's doctors and scientists as Comstock himself stood, silhouetted on a balcony above. "Remember!" cried the tyrant, "No anesthetic! No sedatives!"

"Yes Father Comstock." Replied one of the doctors as he flipped Elizabeth over on the table. The other man approached her with a massive syringe attached to a long hose.

Elizabeth watched as her past self whimpered. "No." both Elizabeth's said, "No! No!" The syringe was plunged directly between her shoulder blades. Even in the dream, Elizabeth felt the phantom pain as the syringe almost pierced through her entire body. She remembered how badly she wanted to use her powers, to escape from the pain and torment. But the siphons in the corners of the room kept her in one place. Elizabeth watched as the doctors started to experiment with her. They injected her with various chemicals to see how her blood reacted with them. They hit her in various places to test her reaction time. They played with her severed pinkie, testing how it felt and what it had to do with her powers. They even began testing her body's most private areas to see if her powers affected her reproductive system.

In the dream, Elizabeth was hyperventilating from fear, pain, and an innate sense of helplessness. The dreaming Elizabeth just watched, hovering above her dream self. She wished that this torture had never happened to her, but she had long ago accepted it as something she could not reverse. Besides, she had already killed the doctors responsible for her torment, and, unlike with Comstock, she felt no need to search through multiple universes to find and kill them. It didn't matter though, because it was right around this point that Booker had come to save her.

Elizabeth turned towards the entrance expectantly. The door opened as she knew it would, but it was not Booker who stood armed and ready on the other side. It was the shadowy assassin. Elizabeth gasped in surprise as the assassin ran into the room, twin Huntsman Carbines in hand. With a few short bursts of bullets, both doctors lay dead. In the distance an alarm went off. The assassin dropped her guns and approached the sobbing Elizabeth. When she got to her, the assassin pulled back the wrappings around her face, but looked down upon the dream Elizabeth so that the dreaming Elizabeth couldn't see her face.

"Kill me," whispered the dream Elizabeth, "Just kill me."

The assassin sighed and caressed Elizabeth's cheek. "Don't ask me to do that." Elizabeth grabbed the assassin by the neck and screamed as the syringe in her back twisted. "Please!" she sobbed, "Do it!"

The assassin hesitated, but reluctantly drew a small syringe gun from the shadows of her clothing. She injected it into Elizabeth's shoulder. Above them both, the real Elizabeth was watching with a mixture of fascination and horror. This wasn't how things had played out; this wasn't how things were supposed to be. Where was Booker? The assassin whistled low and softly, a soothing melody that lulled the dream Elizabeth into a deep, drug-induced sleep from which she would never awaken. The assassin began to snivel and snort, crying with wordless sobs over the dream Elizabeth.

There was another flash of white as Elizabeth screamed. She sat bolt upright in bed and panted. She was back in the bedroom of Booker's safe house in Kiln City.

Elizabeth got out of the bed and walked downstairs, the memory of her dream fading with every step. Except for Robert's warning, that stayed with her.

Downstairs, Silas was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the large, empty room. A single candle burned with reverent peace before him. When he shifted his weight to the side, the flame followed him. "It's a meditation technique." He said without looking up as Elizabeth approached him, "Aunt Samantha taught it to me. She got way into Hinduism and yoga after Grandpa Jack undid her brainwashing." He hesitated, "It's supposed to guild the souls of the dead back to the hearts of the living." Even in the dim light, Elizabeth could see the puffy eyes and red cheeks that were tell-tale signs of tears.

She sat down next to him, mimicking his style of seat. "I'm sorry," she said, "About all this. It never involved you or your family."

They sat together in silence for a time before Silas spoke again. "Booker went to bed. But he explained everything to me." He gave a weak smile, "Not like I understood most of it, but there was something about time travel, and alternate worlds, or something of that general nature."

Elizabeth chuckled; it was good to see that he had a sense of humor about him. "So, did he tell you about the assassin?"

Silas nodded. "She's another one who can move between worlds. Apparently she works for a version of the guy you both have been trying to kill. She wants you dead so she can protect her master. He doesn't know how she can open tears in this world, though. He thought he was the only one who could do that."

"And the Big Daddy?"

"You mean that deep-sea diver guy? He's her assistant apparently." Elizabeth nodded and watched the fire as Silas controlled it's movements through his meditation. For a long while, they just sat together. Enjoying the presence of another human.

After a while, Silas broke the silence once more. "Booker told me what happened to you." Elizabeth nodded, keeping her eyes on the fire. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Silas." Her legs were falling asleep. She unfolded them to let the blood course back through them. "How old are you, Silas?"

"25, why?"

"You were born after the city was quarantined then?"

Silas nodded. "Yeah, but not before they created the quarantine zone. Before they set up the wall, my mother would take me to the library everyday to teach me about the outside world."

Elizabeth hesitated but her damned curiosity got the better of her. "Did you know your father?"

Silas closed his eyes and gave short, hard breath. The fire went out. "A guard. He was killed by his comrades when he resisted the wall being put up." Elizabeth nodded, but nobody would know it. She snapped her fingers, using the last of the EVE in her system to re-light the candle.

"I'm sorry."

Silas smirked. "Are we just going to go back and forth apologizing to each other for things that aren't our faults?"

Elizabeth laughed. Not a snarky, sarcastic laugh, but a genuine, happy laugh. It was something she hadn't done in quite some time. It felt good; she should do it more often. "And I assume you can think of a better thing to do?"

Silas laughed with her. "Oh," he chuckled, "I think I can figure out a few things for us to do." Slowly, both of their laughs died down as they realized the vague innuendo of what they had just said. Without saying a word, both of them decided to forget what had just happened.

"There's one thing I still don't understand." Said Elizabeth, "Why does Booker need me to kill Comstock? I don't see why he can't just go to the first world and do it himself."

"Because I can't find the damn place." Said Booker. Elizabeth and Silas turned to see him coming down the stairs. "I can't see the worlds like you can, Elizabeth." He continued, joining them on the floor around the candle, "Every time I try, it gets all jumbled together and I can't figure anything out. But you," he pointed to Elizabeth, "You can see the universes individually, not just together. I can narrow it down to a cluster of dimensions, but I need you to show me exactly which one is the origin of all reality."

Elizabeth stared at Booker. "Are you serious?"

Booker glared at her. "You have killed every version of me you have ever come into contact with. I hate you with every fiber of my being. The only reason I would ever come to you for help would be if I was truly desperate." Booker stood and held his arms out wide. "Look at me, Elizabeth." He said, his face illuminated by the light of the candle, "I am a desperate man. If killing Comstock in the first world will end him for good, then I'll team up with the devil himself if I must."

Elizabeth stared at him and stood up. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Where do we start?"

Booker dropped his hands. "Where do you think? Where it all started." He clapped and ripped open a tear. Elizabeth peered in and saw a dock in the middle of a raging ocean. A path lead to a small island with a large lighthouse. Elizabeth felt at her side for her gun. After reassuring herself if was there, she nodded, ready to jump back into the space between worlds. Booker gave a mock flourish. "Ladies first."

Elizabeth nodded and stepped forward. "Wait," she said hesitating. She turned back, "What about Silas?"

"Well he's coming with us, of course."

Silas raised his hands defensively. "Whoa, wait. Hold on. I never said I was coming with you. I still have family left in this city. Some of my cousins probably got out safely."

Booker rolled his eyes. "Silas, in fifteen minutes, a long overdue eruption is going to destroy this entire city and cover the globe with ash, blocking out the sun and ending life as anyone knows it. You want to stick around for the apocalypse? Be my guest. But Elizabeth and I are going to need a Ryan, any Ryan. What it boils down to is do you want to live or not?"

Silas stared at him for a few seconds, incredulity playing across his face. There was a sudden rumbling under their feet. Elizabeth nearly fell over. It was over in just a few seconds, but everyone in the room was able to recognize an earthquake. "I choose life." Silas said quickly, standing up and stepping forward.

Booker grinned. "Atta boy, Silas." He stepped through the tear, abandoning the prospects of 'ladies first'.

Elizabeth put her hand on Silas's shoulder. "You're next. Be careful, your first time is always a little strange."

Silas grinned nervously. "Must…resist…sex joke."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Don't make me regret meeting you."

Silas cleared his throat. "Sorry." Elizabeth motioned him forward. He took a deep breath and took a running leap through the tear.

Elizabeth glanced around the room. "Good-bye, Kiln City, and good riddance." She stepped through the tear into the purgatory of lighthouses.


	6. The Pathway to the Apocalypse

Same disclaimers as before. Thanks to Ser Serendipity and TheDaedricPrinceOfCrossovers for the reviews!

Chapter 6: The Pathway to the Apocalypse

Elizabeth breathed deeply through her nose. Even in this world between worlds, the sea smelled of familiar salt with just a hint of dead fish. It was a revolting smell, but in a way was reassuring.

Silas stared out over the ocean. "Is this the sea?" he whispered. He bent down and leaned over the dock. He cupped his hand and drew some water to his mouth. "Is this salt?"

Booker drew his gun from his messenger bag and a cloth to clean it with. "Yes, now stop drinking it, you'll get dehydrated."

Elizabeth rolled her shoulders, cracking her neck and spine. "Alright, where do we begin?"

Booker pointed to the lighthouse. "This door leads to the Eternal Pathway."

"What's the Eternal Pathway?" asked Elizabeth.

"It's just what I call the path that goes between the lighthouses. You know, the one that forms as you walk it." Elizabeth nodded and started forwards. Booker holstered his gun and put away his cleaning cloth. Behind them, Silas was still looking at the horizon, enraptured by the new sight. Booker glanced back at him. "Silas! Let's go! If you think that a body of water is exciting, then we're gonna blow your friggin' mind." Together, they climbed the steps up to the lighthouse.

Elizabeth turned to Silas. "Hang on," she said; stopping the group, "You're going to need more than a knife. I'll get you something." She put her hands together and focused on the image of Chen Lin's gun shop in Columbia.

She was about to rip open a tear when Booker grabbed her wrist. "No," he said firmly, "If you open a tear, _she_ can find us."

Elizabeth lowered her hands. By _she_, Elizabeth assumed Booker meant the assassin. "She can track us through tears?"

Booker scowled and rubbed his arm, as if feeling the scars of old wounds. "There are things you don't understand about the way your powers work, Elizabeth." He said cryptically, "And I pray you don't have to. The things I had to do to get my powers…" he shuddered and stomped his feet, "Enough of that, let's get going. Silas, you'll have to make do with a knife for now."

Silas shrugged. "It's cool." They climbed the last few steps to the lighthouse. On the door was nailed a piece of wrinkled, yellowed paper. Elizabeth and Booker glanced at each other uneasily as Silas leaned forward. "I can't quite read it…something about debt?"

"Leave it, Silas," breathed Elizabeth, "It's served its purpose." Silas shrugged and stepped back as Elizabeth pushed open the door and stepped onto the wooden pier of the Eternal Pathway. Booker followed with Silas.

Silas did a double-take. "What? Didn't we just…How did we?"

Booker held up his hand to stop Silas. "Si, my man, if you think about this inter-dimensional stuff for too long, it'll melt your brain. Take my advice and learn to just go with it, man." Silas nodded, but still looked entirely confused as he glanced back at the exit to the lighthouse they had just entered.

Elizabeth walked forward and the path created itself for each step she took. "What should we be looking for?"

Booker scratched his nose. "I can lead us in the general direction of the first world, but eventually you'll have to take over and guide us."

Elizabeth frowned. "What will I look for then? How will I know which world is the one we're looking for?"

Booker smirked, knowing the amazement to come. "Trust me, you'll know. For now, just follow me." Booker closed his eyes and sniffed the air. Without looking, he stepped forward along the path. Wordlessly, Elizabeth and Silas followed him.

They didn't know how long they walked in silence. Booker didn't open his eyes once, but walked without missing a step. When they came to a fork in the path, he would often turned to one road without hesitation. Sometimes, he would stop for a minute before making up his mind, but he always seemed confident with his choices. Occasionally, they would come to a lighthouse. Usually, Booker would ignore them and continue onwards, but once and a while he would stop and open his eyes. He would tell his traveling companions to stay put for a moment while he climbed the steps up to the lighthouse door and take a quick peek inside. Every time, he would come back down the stairs, shaking his head and closing his eyes as he led them onwards.

It seemed like they had been walking for hours when Silas jumped up. "What is that?" he exclaimed, pointing into the distance.

Elizabeth followed his finger and saw a mirror copy of the odd trio slowly trudging along an adjacent pathway. "It's us," she said, "In the future. Or maybe alternate versions of us in the past." Silas hesitantly raised his hand and waved to the group across the water. To Elizabeth's surprise, the alternate Silas turned to them. It grinned and waved back to a confused Silas.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Asked Silas.

Elizabeth gazed at the group as it moved along into the mist. "No," she said as she moved forward, "It's not."

"So should we be concerned?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "There's not much we can do. They…we…aren't harming…ourselves."

Silas stared at her. "Wow, this stuff really does boggle the mind."

Elizabeth laughed. "You have no idea."

They walked for a few more minutes in silence before Silas pointed again. "Look," he murmured to Elizabeth. Across the water on a separate pier were the assassin and her Big Daddy. The assassin was crouched down and examining the wood beneath her, tracking something. The Big Daddy seemed to be standing guard over her, turning its massive head every few seconds to look around.

Elizabeth felt Silas tense next to her. "I'm sorry, Silas," she said, taking his hand in hers, "There's nothing you can do about her right now." The assassin stood up abruptly and ran along the pier, the Big Daddy clanking after her. Silas and Elizabeth watched them go until they disappeared in the mist. They walked a few yards before they realized they were holding hands and both quickly dropped their arms to their sides. They were so self-conscious, they hadn't noticed that Booker had stopped moving and was looking back at them with his hands on his hips.

"Christ, you guys are 28 and 25 and you act like you're both 14." Elizabeth glared angrily at her biological father while Silas just looked confused. "Anyway, I need you to stay here."

Elizabeth blinked. "Why? Another lighthouse?"

Booker waved his hand and the mist parted slightly, showing a lighthouse. "Yeah, we're actually getting close to the point where you'll have to take over, but that's not the one we're looking for. No, I just have to go to the bathroom." Booker pushed past them and starting walking back the way they came. "I'll just be a minute. Stay here and I'll be right back." A few steps later and he had disappeared into the fog. Silas sighed and sat down on the stairs to the lighthouse. Elizabeth smoothed out her skirt and joined him. For a few moments, they sat in silence before Silas turned around and stared up at the lighthouse.

"What's wrong?" asked Elizabeth.

Silas slowly turned back to face forwards. "Nothing, I think." After a few seconds, he turned back. "Seriously, you don't hear anything?"

Elizabeth gave him a strange look. "Ahhh, no. Do you?"

Silas stood up. "Yeah. Someone's calling my name." He started walking up the stairs.

Elizabeth stood. "Um, Booker said to stay put."

"I'll be right back," called Silas over his shoulder as he continued climbing the steps.

Elizabeth watched him ascend into the fog and shook her head in frustration. "This," she told herself as she started to climb after him, "Is what is commonly referred to as a bad idea." She quickly caught up to Silas at the top of the stairs. He had his ear pressed against the wooden door.

Silas pointed to the door. "It's coming from behind here." He whispered. He opened the door.

"Silas no!" cried Elizabeth as he slipped through the crack. She ran after him and tried to grab his sleeve as he left that plane of reality, only to slip on the rocks and fall through the door with him.

They were tumbling down a steep, small, grey hill, twisting and turning painfully around one another until they rolled to a halt at the base. Elizabeth groaned as she lifted her head. She was lying on top of Silas and her arms were somehow tangled around his chest. She quickly stood up and looked around as Silas moaned and brushed himself off.

They were standing in a range of identical hills covered in grey ash and dead grass. Behind them, the lighthouse was a crumbling wreck atop the hill they had just fallen down.

"Dammit, Silas," sighed Elizabeth as she brushed ash off of her skirt. It smeared and left grey streak. She drooped her shoulders in frustration as Silas looked around.

"Where are we?" he asked. Elizabeth spun around and punched him in the arm. "Ouch! What?"

Elizabeth glared at him. "You just had to follow some mystery sound, didn't you! Christ! I know you're new to this whole thing, but show some friggin' common sense for god's sakes!" Silas recoiled from her as she hit him a few more times.

Silas stared at her with big eyes. "I'm…I'm sorry."

Elizabeth pulled her fist at the last second and sighed. "No, I'm sorry. You must be overwhelmed by all this." She put her hands at her sides and gave him a small smile. "C'mon, let's get out of here." She took him by the shoulder and led him as she marched up the hill back towards the lighthouse.

Silas looked out to the hills as he was pulled up. "The sound is gone." He murmured, "What the hell?"

To Elizabeth's credit, she got within ten feet to the lighthouse before the rocket hit. She and Silas were thrown back down the hill from the strength of the explosion. Luckily, they landed apart this time, sparing them from embarrassment. Elizabeth jumped up and drew her firearm, aiming it wildly around, seeking a target. Silas scrambled to his feet and drew his knife. The lighthouse was reduced to flaming rubble.

There was a distant roar and Elizabeth turned towards the sound. She scrambled up the hill opposite the lighthouse. She found herself overlooking acre upon acre of grey hills. Far in the distance, a dark horizon was growing slowly larger as the sound increased. It was an army, she realized, and it was in the process of attacking. Four dots appeared above the growing horizon. Missiles aimed at their position. Elizabeth's eyes widened and she ran down the hill

"What did you see?" Asked Silas as she came down towards him.

"Run!" was all she said as she dashed past. Silas wisely decided not ask questions and just ran with her. The missiles landed in the surrounding hills and sprayed waves of ash and dust on them. Elizabeth turned to look over her shoulder. Running just a few dozen yards behind them was the first wave of the attackers. They were dressed in black, one-piece suits with various decorative bandanas and facemasks protecting their eyes and mouths from the ashen desert. They wielded either strange, silver guns or short, rusty blades. They ran faster than horses and jumped over entire hills. Elizabeth actually squealed and ran as fast as she could.

Silas leaned forward and mad a mad dash to catch up with Elizabeth. "What is going on?" he yelled.

"Shut up and run!" Elizabeth ran between two hills. A massive, metal arm shot out of the hill just as Elizabeth and Silas ran past. Both of them ran head first into the metal limb and fell to the ground in pain. Elizabeth moaned and rubbed her nose as she looked up. The hill from which the arm had emerged from started to shake and the ash and dirt loosened and fell off, revealing a Big Daddy.

This Big Daddy was easily ten feet tall. Instead of having a drill hand as usual, it had a massive rocket cannon for a left hand and had four enormous and sharpened blades protruding from the wrist of its right hand.

Silas stared up at the Big Daddy. "Elizabeth," he said, "It got bigger."

Elizabeth tried to push herself up, "Don't worry, it's a different one than the one the assassin had."

"Oh, so I shouldn't be scared of it then?"

"Oh, no, you should be totally scared of it." The men following them stopped in their tracks when they saw the machine flex and roll its shoulders. With a mechanical roar, the Big Daddy charged, raising its cannon.

It was at that exact second that all hell broke loose. Almost every hill in eyesight shook and tossed off layers of dirt and ash to become titanic machine and human hybrids. The wave of men in black resumed their assault and opened fire on the Big Daddy army. The mechanical beasts clashed with the men in an orchestra of metal instruments, playing a symphony of war. Elizabeth kept her head down as a volley of bullets sailed over her and Silas. She hesitantly raised her gun, completely unsure of who to aim at. She had gone from having no targets to having too many targets, and she wasn't even sure who the targets should be.

As she was swiveling her gun back and forth between targets, a metal foot landed in front of her.

She looked up to see a Handyman leaning down and offering her his hand. "Come on, kids! This isn't the place to be right now." Elizabeth hesitated before sighing and deciding to throw her lot in with fate as she took the huge metal hand. Silas took the Handyman's other hand and together they were pulled up and slung over the Handyman's shoulders. The Handyman crouched down and Elizabeth could hear pressure building up in the Handyman's piston-powered legs. With a hiss of steam, the Handyman jumped almost thirty feet in the air. They landed and before Elizabeth could even process her surroundings, they were in the air again. For ten minutes or so, the Handyman carried Elizabeth and Silas through the battle. Every jump caused Elizabeth to realize the exact scope of the battle. The field stretched on for miles in every direction and the battle between the machines and the men.

Slowly, the Handyman began landing in areas with more machines than men. Eventually, they landed in a place where the hills were undisturbed. From there, the Handyman ran. Elizabeth shifted on his shoulder. Her abdomen was bruised from falling down on his metal shoulder pads over and over again.

She rubbed her stomach painfully. "Who are you?" she asked.

The Handyman slowed down to a slow trot as the sounds of battle faded into the distance. "Just an old fart in an autobody, ma'am."

Elizabeth glanced at him before closing her eyes, trying to ignore the pain. "How can you jump like that?" she asked, "That suit should hurt like hell."

The Handyman nodded to a tube at his neck. It led down underneath the metal armor of his outer shell. "Injects painkillers directly into my bloodstream. I haven't actually _felt_ anything in almost fifty years."

Silas groaned and rolled over onto his back. "I think you just broke my spleen." Elizabeth turned and sat up on the broad shoulder to get a better look at the man inside the autobody. He had thick grey hair on his head and a scruffy white beard.

"Don't worry, lad." He said to Silas, "We have some pretty good doctors back at the base. I'm also fairly certain that if I broke your spleen, you'd be dead by now."

Silas glared at him. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

The Handyman laughed, a good enough distraction for Elizabeth to turn her gun on his exposed human head. Upon seeing a firearm pointed at him, the Handyman stopped laughing, but kept moving forward. Elizabeth panted, the excitement of the last few minutes catching up with her, but her hands were firm and unwavering.

"Why did you save us?" she said, deadly soft.

"You-your coming was prophesized."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and cocked her gun, "I've had some bad experiences with prophets."

The Handyman continued walking through the maze of randomly placed hills, which Elizabeth now knew were just patient Big Daddies in disguise. The Handyman closed his eyes. "We were told that two pale people in white garb would come from the lighthouse and would show us the way to victory over the Evolutionaries."

Silas grunted from the other shoulder. "The Evolutionaries?"

"You met them back there." Said the Handyman, opening his eyes, "Men and women so twisted by generations of radiation, Sprigs, splicing, abusing artificial evolution substances, and overdosing on CAIN-"

"CAIN?" interupted Elizabeth.

"A mix of ADAM and EVE." The Handyman fixed her with a questioning look, "How do you not know these things?"

Silas sat up. "Well, you probably won't believe us, but-"

Elizabeth interrupted again. "Silas." Her commanding tone caused the Kiln City veteran to shut up. Elizabeth had learned from years of experience that it was easier just to lie than explain the whole travel-through-time-and-space thing. "Let's just say we haven't been around for a while."

The Handyman shrugged, causing both of his passengers to grab his arm for support. "Anyway, they went crazy after the Apocalypse-"

"Look," sighed Elizabeth, "I hate to interrupt so much, but…" The Handyman gave her a strange look and pointed into the distance. Elizabeth stared into the grey sky and her vision lowered until she gasped at a horrible sight.

It was a mountain at one point. A huge crater had been carved out of the side, almost like God himself had scooped out a sizable chunk of the mountain. Elizabeth looked down at the ash crunching under the Handyman's feet. "Oh," she whispered in shock, "Oh Jesus."

"What?" asked Silas, "I don't get it."

"Ash, Silas," Elizabeth said with a tear running down her cheek, "You lived in a super volcano. It went off just after we left." Silas stared at the mountain, understanding dawning on his face. "We're not in a different world; we're just in the future of yours."

"Not many of us are still around who saw the eruption." Said the Handyman conversationally, "I'm actually almost two hundred years old."

"Don't look a day over a hundred and fifty." Muttered Silas, his eyes still on the disfigured mountain he had once called home.

The Handyman chuckled, but then sighed. "The ash cloud covered the sun and the heat destroyed half the continent. Nothing grew for a few decades until some egghead invented artificial vegetables and we were more or less able to restart society. Of course, the Evolutionaries made it a little difficult, but the Mayor showed us these nifty autobody suits and helped us reprogram the old Rapture robots for defense."

"Who's the Mayor?" Elizabeth asked.

The Handyman rounded the final hill. "Oh, you'll meet him soon enough." About a football field away stood a dirty metropolis made of harsh, rusting iron and steel. It was surrounded by a ten-foot wall of sewn-together metal. In a few quick bounds, the Handyman vaulted over the wall.

The city was densely populated. Elderly Handymen were chatting with each other on street corners while children with toys darted between their legs. Teens flirted and kissed in the shadows while their parents rolled their eyes at their progenies in the open markets.

All activity changed as soon as eyes landed on Elizabeth and Silas atop the Handyman's shoulders. For a moment, there was universal silence. Then there was an uproar that made the sounds of the battle seem like a kitten's purr. The Handymen raised their arms, grateful for a victory they had been waiting for since they were young men. Teens and children stared in awe at the legend they had only chuckled at before and the adults cheered for the truths that their parents had told them.

The Handyman began walking through the city as the crowd split before him. People cheered from the streets and smiled down from the buildings as they past. Elizabeth looked around and gaped at the level of support she was getting. A parade started to form behind them as the citizenry tried to keep their supposed saviors in sight.

The Handyman stopped walking forward in a large square. The crowd hushed slightly as a team of Handymen parted the crowd and made their way towards Elizabeth and Silas. One of them had a wide, blue sash with the word 'Mayer' written on it in dark, rigid letters. It was this one that approached them first.

"Well it's about time!" he crowed joyfully. He was bald and had trimmed white beard.

Silas's eyes widened. "No. Way."

"Silas, m'boy!" the old man cried, opening his arms wide, "Oh! I've missed you, kid!"

Silas jumped from his post on the Handyman's shoulder and into the arms of the Mayor. "Grandpa!" Elizabeth's jaw dropped. She had heard of this man before, of course, but she had never met him.

"Now," said Jack Ryan, "Why don't you introduce me to your lady friend and we can go get some lunch in town hall. I think we have a lot to discuss."

. . .

Feel free to comment and review.

Sorry, I forgot to space it.


	7. Men and Slaves

Same disclaimers as before. Thanks to everyone for the reviews!

Chapter 7: Men and Slaves

Elizabeth stared into the fire. Jack Ryan had immediately taken her and Silas to his house; a large, ramshackle building in the heart of the city. "You caught me just as I was making tea." Jack had explained as he pushed them into his home. This had led to them sitting on the rug-covered ground around a small bonfire in the middle of the main room, drinking tea, and exchanging stories. That is to say, Jack and Silas traded stories.

"Remember when Aunt Vera's favorite coat caught fire but didn't notice it?"

Jack cackled. "Which time? The first or the second?" Silas laughed and actually slapped his knee. Jack sighed. "Oh, Silas. It's good to see you again."

Silas patted his grandfather on his autobody knee. "I missed you to, Grandpa. But the last time anyone saw you, you were fighting off guards near the wall. How are you still alive?"

"Ain't that the million dollar question." Scoffed Elizabeth under her breath.

Jack sighed and leaned back. He took a twisted metal poker and started messing with the fire, slowly building it up as he spoke. "Believe it or not, I actually got out of the city." He said, "The guards were going to kill me, but one of the older ones recognized me from Rapture and convinced the others to take me to prison instead. While they were taking me there, I gave 'em the old one-two-punch and made my escape." Silas leaned in, totally engrossed. Elizabeth folded her arms and grunted. "After that, I explored the city. Oh Silas, you would never believe what the city is like outside the walls. So many people, all so happy." Jack got a faraway look as he gazed into the fire. "After about a week, I found another forest on the far side of the city. Nobody went in there, thought it was haunted or some such. Anyway I went in and, after a little looking around, I found a small passage that led to the outside." Jack stopped talking and looked to the ceiling.

"What's wrong, Grandpa?"

"Nothing, Silas," sighed Jack, "It's just," He lowered his head, "It was a utopia out there. Nothing but green trees and wildlife as far as the eyes could see. After years in the dark with nothing but rocks, those woods were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen." Jack put down the poker. It was red hot from the fire. Jack started to tap it lightly with his metal finger, trying to forge it back into shape. "Oh course, just my luck, an old mental program from my Rapture days kicked in and my heart stopped. I don't know much about what happened after that, seeing as I was dead, but the next thing I remember is waking up in a tube. There was an old friend outside the tube, a Doctor Brigid Tenenbaum, and she explained to me that my body had been frozen to keep it safe. Apparently, I had been used in an experiment and my body had been hooked up to this," he flexed his autobody suit, "Fell out of Columbia in the late 60's apparently. I was dead and this brought me back. This was right after the Apocalypse, so she had revived me to lead what was left of humanity." Jack grinned. "All things considered, I think I did a pretty good job."

"How long ago was this?"

Jack glanced u thoughtfully, "Oh, three hundred years, give or take a decade or two."

Silas hesitated before asking, "So, are they all dead? The family?"

Jack sighed and rested his massive hand on his grandson's shoulder, causing the young man to nearly collapse under the weight of the metal appendage. "Yes. I'm sorry Silas, but their all dead. Along with the rest of Kiln City."

Silas looked crestfallen. "I…I thought maybe…"

Jack nodded. "I know, boy, I know." There was a brief moment of silence for the dead, before Jack continued. "Listen; it looks like you could use a rest. There's a bed in that room there. Why don't you go and have yourself a power nap, mmm?"

"But Grandpa!" Silas started to protest.

"No buts, rest!" Jack pointed and Silas reluctantly rose and marched towards the room. Jack turned back to the fire. "He may not have his mother's mental conditionings," he told Elizabeth, "But he does still have a few strings to pull."

Elizabeth glared at him. "You manipulated him?" Jack grinned but didn't respond. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "Your story was a complete load."

Jack shrugged with a creak of metal. "Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't."

"You know, even after all the great things that I'd heard about you, I don't think I like you very much."

Jack laughed hard. He clutched his cast-iron stomach as he doubled over. "Oh! That's rich!" He said. If looks could kill, Elizabeth would have downright murdered Jack Ryan at that moment. After a few seconds, Jack calmed down. "You know," he said, "We're not too different, you and I."

Elizabeth cocked an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

"Jack looked up at her from across the fire. "Well, we both have two fathers, for one thing."

Elizabeth dropped her arms and stared at Jack. "How do you know that? And I only have one father."

Jack just shrugged. "If you say so. But if you only have one father, why do you take the other one's name?"

Elizabeth glared. "You didn't answer my question. How do you know about me?"

Jack turned his attention back to the fire. "You have to learn to trust things, girl. It doesn't matter how I know, all that matters is the choice."

"What choice?"

"Your choice. My choice. Our fathers' choices. The choice of who you want to be. You say you have one daddy, but you call yourself Elizabeth, the name given to you by your other father." Jack glanced up at her, "Eventually, you'll have to decide who you want to be. Do you want to be Anna DeWitt?" Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Or do you want to be Elizabeth Comstock?"

Elizabeth stood and drew her gun. She pointed it at Jack's exposed head. "What did you call me?" she demanded, her voice breaking slightly.

Jack ignored her gun and kept his attention on the fire. "Elizabeth Comstock. That's what you're turning into, girl." Elizabeth stared at him, her finger itching at the trigger. "You know, before I killed him, my father told me some prolific words of advice; A man chooses, a slave obeys." Jack looked up at Elizabeth. His steady gaze met her wide eyes and she slowly lowered her gun. "I always had a few questions about that. What if a man chooses to obey? What if you have no choice but to obey?" Jack stood, his metal limbs creaking slightly. "Yes, it was a flawed statement, but it was an important lesson. I ended up choosing, not obeying." He walked through the fire and stood in front of Elizabeth, his massive form dwarfing, but not intimidating, her. "I could have obeyed my father and become Jack Fontaine." He said, "Instead, I chose to become Jack Ryan." He knelt down so he was closer to Elizabeth's level. "Someday," he said softly, "You'll have to make that choice."

Elizabeth stood stock still for a moment, and then broke down. She cried and tears fell down her cheek as she grabbed the metal man in a tight hug. "But I can't choose!" she sobbed, "I-I don't know what to do anymore!"

Jack returned her embrace. "I know, girl, I know." For a few minutes, Elizabeth just let the stress and fear of the last day and a half wash out of her. It had been so simple before; find Booker before he becomes Comstock, psychologically torture him, kill him. But things were different now, so different.

After a while, Elizabeth pulled back and wiped her face on her sleeve. "What do I do?" she whispered.

Jack sat down next to her and she sat on his knee. "You live and eventually you either choose or obey." Elizabeth leaned in and laid her head on Jack's metal chest. It was surprisingly warm and reminded her of Booker, how he had been while protecting her in Columbia. It was a feeling she'd missed, the feeling of having a father, the feeling of everything being alright for once.

The ground shook beneath them and Elizabeth shot up. The earth rumbled again and Jack slowly got to his feet. "That don't bode well." He muttered.

Silas came out from his room. "What was that? I just got to sleep!"

There was a knock on the door and Jack opened it. One of the giant Handymen stood there, unable to get through the smaller door. "Sir!" he cried, leaning down, "The Evolutionaries are breaking through the Daddy field! What do we do?"

Jack glanced down at Elizabeth and Silas, deep in thought before answering. "Activate the city defenses. Get everyone to the catacombs and ready the Handies for battle. Also, bring me my steeds, all three of them." The Handyman bowed and dashed away into the city. Almost immediately, alarms blared in the distance. Jack turned back and held his hand up, telling the two young people to stay put. He walked into a side room where Elizabeth and Silas heard many clashes and clangs before he returned, decked out in rusted but deadly battle gear. His shoulders were covered with spikes and his head shielded with a chrome helm. He wielded twin wicked sabers, each about the size of a full-grown man. Slung across his back was a massive elephant gun. "C'mon, kiddies!" he said, his voice echoing slightly in his helmet, "Something wicked this way comes!" He kicked open his door and clambered out into the sunlight, Elizabeth and Silas hot on his heels.

"What are the city defenses?" Asked Elizabeth, struggling to keep up with the cyborg as they dashed through the emptying city streets.

"Old androids from Columbia. We did some long distance trading a few hundred years ago with a survivor camp in Tibet. Had to trade in a whole flock of livestock, but it was worth it. As he spoke, they neared the wall of the city. As they got closer, Elizabeth noticed certain parts of the wall detaching and coming to electric life. The faces of the presidents had been painted over with tribal markings and their weapons upgraded, but they were unmistakably Motorized Patriots. All of them stood ready at the city's defense outside the wall. Elizabeth and Silas clambered over the wall as Jack jumped over it.

In the distance, they saw the black horizon of the Evolutionaries army growing closer, broken here and there by a slight raised bump that was a Big Daddy, but every few seconds one of them would get swarmed and fall to the ground.

In the sky, there was a familiar screeching noise. Elizabeth looked up and gasped. "No. It's not possible!" In the sky, three shadows looped around overhead, growing larger and larger until they landed. They were silver Songbirds, identical to the one that had protected and tormented Elizabeth in Columbia. "There were more of them?" she said, hesitantly moving forward to touch the closest one.

"Not exactly," said Jack, jumping on one's back with a grunt, "The Tibetans found some blueprints and used them to sweeten the deal with the president robots. We made these ones ourselves, now hop on, we've got a war to wage."

Silas stared at the Songbirds. "They fly. They actually fly. I've only ever read about flying machines. And we get to ride them?" Jack rolled his eyes and picked up his grandson, tossing him on the back of a Songbird. Silas stared at the metal under his legs and crowed victoriously. "Oh, this is gonna be great!"

Elizabeth grimaced as she laid a hand on the last Songbird. Jack sighed impatiently. "Will you just get on the damn thing?" he said. Elizabeth glared at him and swung gracefully onto the metal bird's back. With all three on a bird, Jack gave a shrill whistle and all the birds spread their wings as one.

Elizabeth had flown on a sky-line and in an airship before, but this was different. It was very tense; Elizabeth had to wrap her legs around the bird as well as she could to keep from falling off. Luckily, there were hand-holds molded into the metal of the Songbird's back and Elizabeth clung on for dear life. For a while, they just soared at about a hundred feet in the air, slowly circling around the city. Looking down, Elizabeth could see everything, from each individual building to the mass of black-clad Evolutionaries in the distance.

Finally, the Songbirds swung outwards towards the Evolutionaries. Elizabeth crouched down and gasped in fear as the bird dipped into a sharp dive. She screamed in fear as they got so close to the ground, she was certain they were going to crash. At the very last second, the Songbird pulled up, it's wings cutting down a group of Evolutionaries as it climbed back up into the sky. Bullets and spears clanked and banged off the Songbird's underbelly and rushed past Elizabeth. She was fairly certain that her heart was going to give out at any moment.

She heard Silas yelling in happiness beside her as his ride did the same thing. She turned just in time to see Jack leap off his Songbird, both blades spinning expertly in his hands.

There was a sudden flash of light and Elizabeth turned away with her eyes closed. She turned back when the light faded to see a hooded figure clinging onto the Songbird's neck before her. The figure looked up and pulled down it's hood.

"You have no idea what I had to go through to find you!" shouted Booker, shaking his finger in Elizabeth's face, "We are gonna talk, young lady! But right now we have to go! She's right behind me!" Booker reached into his bag and withdrew a large syringe gun. He quickly injected it into his chest and grimaced as the liquid flushed through his vain. "ABEL," he said, tossing the gun away, "Does wonders for the body, but only for five minutes. Get Silas and meet me at the mountain!" With that, Booker let go and dropped off the bird. He landed below, making a massive crater and knocking many Evolutionaries back. Elizabeth turned away and experimentally tugged on the left hand-hold of her Songbird. It swerved to the left in response and she trembled at the movement. She pulled it up next to Silas's bird. Silas himself was actually standing on his ride's head. He had a rifle in his hands and was taking potshots at the Evolutionaries below.

He looked up and grinned at her. "Grabbed it off one of them when Melody dipped down." He called, motioning to his gun.

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "Melody? You named it?"

Silas shrugged. "She likes it." In response, the bird screeched and flapped its wings, knocking Elizabeth's bird off balance. It struggled for a moment before returning to a graceful glide. Elizabeth glared at Silas who shrugged sheepishly.

"Booker's here. He said to meet him at the mountain."

Silas stared at her. "But we're needed here!" he said, "Grandpa needs us!"

"Belay that!" Jack Ryan flew up next to them. It appeared he had reunited with his Songbird. He had apparently abandoned one of his swords in favor of his gun, but the look on his face was one of desperation. "If you're to go to the mountain, then you're going to the damn mountain! We can hold the line here!" Blood was splashed across his chest piece, obscuring the word 'autobody' in red. The glass plate that protected his heart was cracked. He was by no means prepared to hold off the entire Evolutionary population by himself. Silas saw the same thing and started to argue with his grandfather.

Elizabeth glanced behind her and saw a small army of Handymen charging from the city walls along with the Motorized Patriots. Even they might not be enough, she thought. She looked below and her eyes widened in surprise. Booker stood atop a pile of bodies, picking off Evolutionaries with guns and occasionally leaping down to engage them in lightning-fast hand-to-hand combat. He was a furious blur of anger and death, but it wasn't compassionate. The Booker from Columbia had only killed to protect her. This one was more like how Booker had referred to himself in the past; a demonic force, a reaper of souls who was glorified in combat, who lusted for that sense of power over another. She saw Booker grin almost manically and she looked away in disgust.

There was a roar above them and everyone looked up in surprise. The ash clouds parted as three massive airships gently floated down from the sky. One gently pulled up next to the Songbirds and Elizabeth looked into the cockpit. Inside, the assassin was piloting with her Big Daddy companion in tow.

Silas turned and saw the two as well. He raised his gun and took careful aim before firing. The bullet shattered the window, but the Big Daddy raised it's hand and blocked the ballistic. "Shit!" swore Silas as he quickly reloaded. The Daddy came to the broken window and raised its massive drill. "Melody, up!" Silas shouted, and the Songbird obeyed, rising just high enough that when the drill launched, it soared underneath its target.

Unfortunately, the drill landed in the side of Elizabeth's Songbird, which cried out in pain. Elizabeth stood up, bracing herself against the wind and altitude and jumped towards Jack's Songbird right next to her. She landed with a grunt and quickly plopped herself down, anchoring herself to the Handyman. As they watched, the three airships began their assault, raining down flaming death from the sky.

Jack barked a laugh. "Where were they fifty years ago? Could have used some more air support than these." Silas and Melody were circling the assassin's airship, trying to get their shots where they could while dodging the Big Daddy's drill.

Elizabeth pointed to Silas. "We have to help them!" She shouted over the wind.

Jack shook his head. "I don't know what issues you tow have with those things, but they're giving us a fighting chance! We'll keep them here, you two need to go to the mountain!"

Elizabeth grunted angrily. She knew he was right; the Handymen needed those airships if they wanted to win and protect the city. "Fine!" she yelled, "Get me to him!" Jack swerved his Songbird and wove through the airships until he was hovering over Melody. "One last thing!" shouted Elizabeth, "How did you know we were coming?"

Jack turned to her and laughed out loud. "You told me, of course! You told me you'd be back! Now go!" with that, he gave her a light push and she slipped off the Songbird. She landed behind Silas on Melody, her knees buckling as she did. She almost fell off, but Silas grabbed her hand and pulled her back up.

"We need to go to the mountain!" She told him.

He waved to the airship with the assassin. "But she's right there! I might never get this chance again!"

Elizabeth closed her eyes and clung close to Silas. "Please! You can get vengeance later! I promise! But right now, your grandpa needs her and we have to get out of here!" Silas glared at her, but grunted and reluctantly shifted Melody away from the airship and flew towards the mountain. Elizabeth clung on to him as they began to soar away from the battle. "You don't need to hold me like that." He grunted.

Elizabeth quickly let go of him and backed up a little. They flew in silence for a few minutes. "I'm sorry," she finally said.

Silas spun around and faced her. Elizabeth looked into his eyes and saw unadulterated rage and hate. "I'm gonna keep you to that promise, Elizabeth. You _will_ help me get revenge for my family." Elizabeth kept his gaze and gave a slow nod. This wasn't the Silas she had met on a rooftop in Kiln City. It took another couple of minutes to get to the base of the mountain.

It truly was a sight to behold. What once was undoubtedly a majestic view now was nothing more than a colossal crater. Ash had petrified parts of what was once Kiln City. The buildings were widely washed away, but there were bodies here and there, frozen in time by the onslaught of heat and ash. Melody landed in the ash and lowered her head to let Silas and Elizabeth off. Just as their feet hit the ground, a tear opened in front of them. Booker stepped through and glared at them.

Elizabeth sighed. "Booker-"

He held up his hand, cutting her off. "One leak," he said, his eyes saying more than his mouth, "One piss. I can't go to the friggin' bathroom without you two MISERABLE MAGGOTS RUNNING OFF INTO THE FUTURE OF A PARALLEL DIMENSION!"

Elizabeth cringed, but Silas stood firm. "It was my fault, Booker." He said, folding his arms over his chest, "I thought I heard someone calling my name from beyond the lighthouse and I went to check it out."

Booker stared at him. "You heard someone calling your name?"

"Yes."

Booker sighed and rubbed his temple. "Okay, right, we're getting close. Stupid Ryan blood." He looked up, "Alright, we're going back to the Eternal Pathway, we're going to find the first world, and we are _not_ going to deviate from the path, okay?" Elizabeth and Silas nodded. Booker grimaced and opened up a tear to a dock in the middle of the ocean with a lighthouse in the distance.

Silas stepped forward. "She's coming with." He said, jerking his thumb at Melody.

Booker raised an eyebrow. "Very funny, now get in there."

Silas shook his head. "Her name is Melody, and she's coming with us."

Booker stared at him. "You know what? I don't care. We've wasted too much time here as is. Fine, the stupid bird comes with, now go." Silas gave a shrill whistle and Melody squawked marched forward. Together, they walked through the tear, expanding it as the massive cyborg bird came through. Booker turned to glare at Elizabeth. "He's a newbie, but you should have known better."

Elizabeth stared at him. "Are you lecturing me?"

"No, I gave up the right to lecture you a long time ago. But I still have a right to be disappointed in you." Elizabeth grit her teeth and walked through the tear. Booker watched her go and was about to step through himself, when a figure in black fell to earth a few yards away. Booker turned back and narrowed his eyes at the assassin.

"You'll have to tell her the truth sometime." She said, removing her head covering.

Booker glared at her. "By that time, it'll be too late." With one fluid motion, he drew a Glock 17 pistol from his bag and raised it at the assassin. The assassin dodged behind some debris as Booker emptied the clip and dropped the gun, putting one foot through the tear.

"Hey!" she called. Booker stopped and looked back. "I'll stop you!" she yelled from behind her cover, "I won't let you hurt her!"

Booker grinned and passed through the tear. "You'll try, my dear," he said to himself. "You'll try."

. . .

**Comments and reviews appreciated! Thanks to everyone that has done so already!**


	8. A Chat with a Killer

Same disclaimers as before. Thanks everyone for the reviews!

Chapter 8: A Chat with a Killer

Elizabeth turned just in time to see Booker step through the tear and quickly seal it. "Something wrong?"

Booker spun and shoved his finger angrily in Elizabeth's face. "Yes. You are wrong, you two are very, very wrong!" He threw up his hands in disgust. "Un-friggin-believable!" He muttered, storming off along the Eternal Pathway. Silas climbed on Melody's back and rubbed her metal neck. Melody gave short, affectionate squawk and began walking after Booker. Each step she took made the wooden planks shake.

Elizabeth sighed and started to walk after her companions. "Are we getting close?" she asked.

Booker didn't even turn around, but she could hear the frustration in his voice. "Well we were, until you two decided to make a little detour. Now, we're back where we started." He muttered something under his breath that Elizabeth couldn't hear, but she was assuming they were some choice words to describe Booker's frustration. Elizabeth really only had herself to blame for their situation. She resigned herself to walking with her head down besides Melody. Booker resumed leading them down the path. It was at that moment when Elizabeth felt the exhaustion and fear of the last few hours take their tool on her body. She felt her arms almost dangling from their sockets and her legs were more or less dead weight.

They walked for several minutes in awkward silence before Silas finally turned to Elizabeth. "You alright?" Elizabeth yawned in response and nearly tripped over her own feet. Silas gave small smile. "Here," he slipped off of Melody and grabbed Elizabeth under her arms. He hoisted her up despite her feeble protests and placed her gently on Melody's back. "I'll walk for a while, you rest."

Elizabeth tried to glare at him, but her eyes kept closing against her will. "Wake me up…when you need…to rest." She muttered, closing her eyes for the final time and she was rocked to sleep by Melody's gentle gait.

Her dream was in Columbia. She was in the library of her tower, thumbing through volumes, trying to decide what to reread next. As always, the ceiling collapsed and she turned to face her rescuer. However, where Booker generally lay was now the black-clad assassin.

Elizabeth glared. "Who are you? Why do you keep popping up in my dreams?" She felt a tap upon her shoulder and she turned. "Oh, it's you. I thought you were supposed to leave me alone?"

Robert Lutece gave a very nonchalant shrug. His hair was ruffled and his suit dirty and wrinkled. "I only interfere in hopes that you know what to do with the information I give you." There was a loud bang and Elizabeth turned back to the assassin. The woman was now lying on the floor of the library; her Big Daddy crouched by her side. The Daddy appeared to be stroking her head affectionately as the assassin slowly sat up, clearly dazed by the fall. Robert gave Elizabeth a gentle push. "She'll answer your questions, if you ask the right ones. But hurry, if my sister finds me, she'll have my hide."

Elizabeth grunted, expressing both her appreciation and loathing in one sound, and walked down the stairs to face the assassin. "Last time I saw you in my dreams, you killed me. Why?"

The Big Daddy helped the assassin to her feet. The woman groaned and clutched her skull. "You were in pain." She said, her voice trembling slightly, "You asked for death and I delivered it. It hurt me more than it hurt you."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow cynically. "I doubt that. So was that just a dream, or did it really happen?"

"It was another world, another lighthouse, another city."

Elizabeth nodded and folded her arms. "Why did you kill the Ryans?"

The assassin pushed herself off the Big Daddy, much to its apparent distress, and struggled to stand on shaky feet. "I didn't."

Elizabeth stared and narrowed her eyes at the other woman. "Tell the truth. This is my dream, I can kill you with a thought." She turned back to look at Robert for confirmation, but the Lutece twin had vanished. Typical.

"I am telling the truth." Said the assassin, walking slowly and shakily towards Elizabeth, "I was trying to save them. It was _him_ who put a bomb in their shack."

Elizabeth rubbed her temples. "Assuming that you're telling the truth, who would _he_ be?" The assassin hesitated, but brought her hands to the top of her head. She unwound her black cloth until Elizabeth could see the top half of her head, all the way down to her nose.

She had short, black hair and skin as pale as milk, but it was her eyes that caught Elizabeth's attention. They were large and blue, as piercing as a sword and twice as hard. They were oddly familiar, but she just couldn't place them.

"Who do you think?"

Elizabeth clenched her fists. "Comstock." The assassin nodded. "He's following me." The assassin nodded again. "How is he moving between worlds?"

The assassin shrugged. "Hell if I know. The same way we do, I suppose."

Elizabeth stared at the assassin. "Who _are_ you?" she whispered. There was a screech in the distance and the assassin flinched.

"Sorry," she said, turning back to her Big Daddy, which picked her up and gently placed her on its shoulder, "That's the wrong question." The wall above them exploded and the Songbird flew in, its massive wings beating the air to stay up.

On its back was a furious-looking Rosalind Lutece. "You!" she shouted, pointing at Elizabeth, "Get out!" There was a flash of white light and Elizabeth flinched as she felt herself flying backwards. Everything went black and she hit her back on something hard. She groaned and fell to the ground.

"I really have to get this dreaming thing down." She muttered, getting up and rubbing her back. Elizabeth looked around and saw nothing but pure darkness in every direction. She couldn't even see what she had hit her back on.

A hand rested on her shoulder and she spun with a roundhouse kick. Her bare heel slammed into Robert's cheek and the Lutece was sent reeling.

"Quite a kick," he said, rubbing his chin, "That's going to leave a mark."

"Shut up, you deserve it." Said Elizabeth dryly, "If you didn't sneak up on people, then maybe I wouldn't have to do that."

Robert glanced around nervously. "Indeed, but time is of the essence. I'm only a few steps ahead of Rosa. I don't have time!" He stamped his foot in frustration. "Damn. Listen, I know none of this makes sense, but you need to understand it, alright? There is more at stake here than your petty vengeance." With that, he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Behind her, Elizabeth heard a slight whimpering. She slowly turned to see a massive, wooden crucifix rising from the darkness. Hanging from it was a man. There were nails in every part of his body and blood poured from his empty eye sockets. He was naked except for a pair of briefs made of thorns. He gave a pathetic moan and tried to strain against his bonds. The nails dug deep into him and he grit his teeth against the pain. Elizabeth slowly approached him.

The man slowly raised his head. He had no eyes, Elizabeth felt like he hadn't had them in quite some time, but he saw her nonetheless. "Bring us the girl," he whispered. His tongue was covered in sharp barbs that stabbed through his cheek and jaw with every syllable, but he continued, ignoring the agony. "Wipe away the debt. Bring us the girl, wipe away the debt." Elizabeth's eyes widened and her hands shot to her mouth.

"Elizabeth." A gentle voice spoke in her ear. She snapped awake and scrambled in surprise. She tumbled off Melody's back and rolled onto the wooden planks. She quickly found the edge and heaved herself over to it. She hadn't eaten since tea with Jack, but that was apparently enough for her stomach to vomit up.

Silas ran to her and pulled her hair back as she finished. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded and Silas handed her a cloth. "Bad dream, really…real." She said, wiping her face.

Silas rubbed her back, making her feel infinitely better. "Well, Booker says that he can't take us any further, so you'll have to find the first world from here." Elizabeth looked up to see Booker leaning against a post, his arms crossed. He was staring into the fog, deep in thought.

Elizabeth stood and walked over to him. "So, it's my turn?"

Booker nodded. "Everything looks the same to me now. Only you can distinguish the first world from the rest. It should be around here somewhere."

Elizabeth looked around. In the distance, a silhouette of a lighthouse stood gently against the fog. "But I don't know what I'm looking for. Is there something that we know about the first world that I should be looking for?"

Booker pointed to the lighthouse. The fog parted a bit and it became more defined. "Each lighthouse is a star." He said, "Each star is a lighthouse. What happens the closer you get to a star?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "It get's hotter?" Booker raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue. Elizabeth breathed as she realized the answer. "Brighter, they get brighter."

Booker nodded. "Stars can die, but as they get older, they get bigger and brighter. The lighthouses are forever, but the same rules apply, if a little less so. Look." The lighthouse came clearly into view. It seemed unremarkable, but it had a slight, glowing bronze aura about it, a mystical light that pulsed gently. "The closer you get to the first world," explained Booker, "The older and therefore brighter the lighthouses. To me, they all look the same now; only you can differentiate which ones are brighter than others at this point." Elizabeth nodded. She took one step and her stomach grumbled loudly. She sighed in embarrassment and Silas snickered. Elizabeth glared at him and he quickly stopped.

Booker gave a small smile. "Tell you what," he said, "I know a nice place to eat. Why don't we have picnic?" Elizabeth nodded gratefully and Silas grinned happily. Booker put his hands together and started to open a tear.

"Wait!" cried Elizabeth, "Won't _she_ find us?"

Silas patted Melody, the smile fading from his face. "Let her come."

Booker grinned. "Where we're going? She wouldn't dare follow." With that, he ripped open the tear and stepped through.

Silas shrugged and led Melody through with Elizabeth. "Holy…" he breathed, taking in his surroundings.

Elizabeth had to agree. There were simply now words to describe the wonder around them. They were standing in a green park. In the distance, there was a city made of glass and light. Above everything was a colossal, transparent dome. Beyond the dome was the darkness of space, interrupted by the twinkling stars. The massive shape of the Earth rotated slowly beyond the glass, the Moon itself was passing overhead, projecting gentle moonbeams that lit up the domed city.

"Where are we?" whispered Elizabeth.

Booker fell into a cross-legged seat. "Smelt Park, Cosmopolis, Lunar Orbit. Have a seat." Elizabeth collapsed and nearly fell over. Melody squawked and ruffled her wings anxiously. Booker glared at the Songbird. "Silas! Keep your pet down. The dome is thick, but not _that_ thick." Silas gently patted Melody's neck and talked her quietly into submission, pulling her down to the ground with him. Booker swung his messenger bag onto his lap and started pulling out bagged and canned food.

Elizabeth stared at him. "How much do you keep in there?" she asked.

Booker grinned. "They call it a 'pocket dimension' for a reason." He said. He closed his bag and tucked it behind him. "Hurry up and eat, we've only got a half-hour at most."

Elizabeth picked up a can. "Olives, mmm." She said contentedly, popping it open and tossing a few spicy orbs into her mouth.

Silas used his knife to cut up some well-preserved fruit. "Why do we only have thirty minutes?" he asked, chew his way through a juicy pear.

Booker swallowed a chunk of bread in one gulp. "Well, if this world is anything like the other worlds with Cosmopolis in it, than your grandfather is about to launch a nuclear arsenal at the city."

Silas stopped chewing. "What?" Elizabeth paused, a cracker halfway into her mouth.

Booker smiled. "Cosmopolis was the brainchild of Erasmus Smelt, John F. Kennedy, and Michael Gorbachev. They launched the city into space to escape from Jack Ryan." He grabbed a glass and gulped down some of the brown liquid inside. "Good stuff," he said contentedly, "Yeah, in this world, Jack Ryan took over Rapture. Then he went to the surface with an army of Splicers and stole a nuclear sub. He threatened the world with it, took over the planet by threatening to blow it up if world leaders didn't bow to him." Booker leaned back, relaxing in the soft grass. "Last night, one of the city engineers fell asleep on the job and the city accidentally floated between the Earth and the Moon. Jack Ryan was in Moscow when he looked up and saw the shadow of the city passing over the moon. In a few minutes, he'll storm into the White House and launch every nuclear missile from Maine to California."

Silas dropped his fruit. "How many people are in the city?" he asked quietly.

Booker shrugged. "Oh, usually around 300,000."

Silas leaned back against Melody. Elizabeth rubbed his knee. "How could he?" he whispered.

Elizabeth closed her eyes. "He's a slave." She said, "He obeys, he doesn't choose."

Silas glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?" He muttered angrily.

Elizabeth winced. "It's…it's something your grandfather told me." Silas looked like he was trying to be angry at her, but he gave up and closed his eyes, breathing deeply through his nose. For a while, they just sat, drinking in the fact that several hundreds of thousands were going to die.

Finally, Silas stood up. "We're not letting this happen." He said. He scrambled onto Melody's back and she rose with a shake.

Booker sat up with a frown. "Not a good idea."

Silas glared down at the inter-dimensional traveler. "Booker, for the love of God, shut up." He slapped Melody's flank and yelled, "Hyah!" With an ear-splitting scream, the Songbird spread her wings and took off towards the city.

Booker stared, watching his go. "You know," he said, "Between that little detour he led you on and picking up the oversized chicken, I'm starting to think we might be better off just picking up another Ryan to finish the trip."

Elizabeth stared in shock at her father. "What are you saying?"

Booker stood up. "I'm saying that I see no reason why we shouldn't just leave him here and find someone else. We just need _a_ Ryan, not him specifically."

Elizabeth punched him in the face. It was a simple punch, but it was more effective than anything she could have said to express her anger. Booker didn't move, but grunted in pain. "What was that for?" He yelled, clenching his fists.

Elizabeth glared at him, her eyes burning with rage. "The Booker I knew would never abandon an ally." Booker pulled back his hand, fully prepared to slap Elizabeth across the face. Elizabeth jutted out her chin, ready for the strike, but it never came. Booker closed his eyes and dropped his hand with a sigh. Elizabeth smirked in satisfaction and ran after Silas towards the city.

Booker watched her run away. He reached up to his neck and pulled from under his shirt a thin chain necklace. On it were three thin vials covered in leather for protections. In one was a small, sand hourglass, slowly draining away. "Damn," he muttered, "Damn, damn, damn." He looked back up and saw Elizabeth disappear over a hill. He sighed, "When did this all go the hell?" He grimaced and tucked his necklace back under his shirt running after his wayward daughter.

. . .

So I updated chapter 3 to fix some continuity errors.

Please Review!


	9. First and Foremost

Same disclaimers as before.

Chapter 9: First and Foremost

Elizabeth had trouble keeping up with Silas. That was to be expected, he was flying on a Songbird and she was running in a grassy field in moccasins, but she was still annoyed that he didn't bother to swoop down for a half a second to pick her up and take her to Cosmopolis. Booker was running behind her and catching up. "You know," he panted, "We've only got maybe ten minutes before the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal turns this place into a floating hunk of radiated space dust. Do you have any idea how we could possibly save the entire city and escape this dimension before they get here?"

Elizabeth glanced at him, beads of sweat starting to dribble down her forehead. "I'll open a tear and send the missiles to another world where they can't do any harm."

Booker shook his head vehemently. "No good, you'd have to be outside the dome to open a tear that could stop the bombs before they shatter the glass."

Elizabeth tried to shrug as she ran, not an easy task. "Then I'll open a tear to evacuate the city."

Booker shook his head again. "Nope, that'll let _her _find us."

Elizabeth stared at him. "I thought you said she would never come here."

"Did I? I don't think I did."

Elizabeth growled. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Booker sneered. "What? Still don't trust me?"

"No."

"Ah, okay then." Above them, Melody screeched. The trees started to become fewer and fewer and the grass gave way to dirt paths, then gravel roads, and finally paved streets. Small houses passed by, each one bigger than the last. The outer houses clearly belonged to farmers. Anyone outside gave them funny looks as they passed and anyone who looked up to see Melody stared in horror.

Soon, Booker and Elizabeth were surrounded by multi-story buildings. People walking through the streets were dressed in strange outfits, women wore slick dresses with puffy shoulders and men were in straight, well-creased single-breasted suits. Regardless of dress, they gave the two strangers a wide berth as they went about their business.

Above them all, Melody landed on a rooftop. "Hey!" called Silas. People on the street below looked up and gasped collectively. Booker and Elizabeth skidded to a halt, both panting. "Who's in charge here?" There was a moment of silence, and then a single woman screamed. This was the catalyst for the chaos that followed. People trampled and screamed to escape.

"Alien!"

"We're under attack!"

"To the escape pods!"

"Someone tell Mr. Smelt!"

Silas stared down at the scurrying people. "Hey!" he cried, "Calm down! I-wait, escape pods?" Elizabeth and Booker exchanged a quick glance.

"Everyone to the escape pods!" shouted Elizabeth.

"Escape the alien!" Booker called with his hand cupped around his mouth. The streets began to empty as people ran inside the buildings. Soon, Elizabeth and Booker felt the ground rumbling beneath their feet. Looking up, they could see tiny pinpricks of light shooting off from the dome towards the moon. "Huh," said Booker, "They must have a backup base on the moon. Go figure."

Elizabeth turned around and gasped. "They're not moving fast enough!" she yelled, pointing towards the Earth. Points of light were projecting from North America, slowly growing larger as they got closer. "Damn it!" Elizabeth rubbed her temples, thinking fast. "What if I made a tear to another world and made the dome thicker? The missiles wouldn't be able to pierce it!"

"Won't work." Said Booker.

"Why not?" demanded Elizabeth angrily.

"Listen, when you first came with me, you agreed to do everything I said." He reminded her with a glare, "Trust me on this one, okay? No tears." Elizabeth groaned in frustration. She looked up at a confused looking Silas on the rooftop. "Without tears, there's no way we can get everyone out of here, is there?"

Booker sighed and looked at her sadly. "Now you know why I never try to save Cosmopolis."

Elizabeth continued to stare up at Silas. "He'll never understand." She said with a sigh.

Booker whistled a familiar tune and Melody spread her wings, jumping down from her perch atop the building with Silas to the street next to Booker, causing the entire street to break out into a fresh wave of panic. "C A G E," he said, "No Songbird is made without a failsafe control program." He walked Melody over the Elizabeth and held out his hand to help her on the Songbird. "He'll understand if you explain it."

Elizabeth folded her arms over her chest. "What makes you say that?"

Booker sighed. "He's confused, Elizabeth. He wants to do good, but he doesn't know how anymore. But to him, you're a constant. Ever since this whole thing started for him, you've been there to help him make sense of everything."

Elizabeth unfolded her arms and stared. "You really think he'll be able to get over this if I talk to him?"

Booker took her hand and pulled her over to Melody. "Only one way to find out."

Elizabeth climbed onto Melody uneasily. She still had a deep-rooted mistrust of Songbirds. "Okay, girl." She said slowly, "Up." Immediately, Melody spread her wings and pushed herself off the ground. "To Silas, that's a good girl." Melody swiveled in midair and landed with a thump on the rooftop.

Silas turned as Elizabeth slid off. "What's going on down there?"

"People are getting into escape pods and going to the moon," explained Elizabeth, walking over to him, "You and Melody scared them off."

"Oh," said Silas, "Good."

"Silas," murmured Elizabeth. She led him to the edge of the roof. "Silas, there isn't enough time. Not everyone is going to get out." Silas stared off the roof towards the dome. The pinpricks were the size of dimes and growing larger by the second as the missiles approached their target. "I know you wanted to make up for your grandfather's mistakes here, but there's only so much we can do."

Elizabeth rubbed circles on his back. "When I made my first kill," she said gently, "It was to protect a man and a child. I was too late to save the man, but I kept the child alive."

Silas was quiet for a moment. "Do you ever regret it?" he asked finally, "Why try if the job is only going to get half done?"

"Not a day goes by where I don't regret ever kill I ever made in my life," she said, "Well, except for the times I killed Booker, he deserved every one. But for the kills I do regret, I just remember that boy. I gave him a chance at life, and while I wish I could have saved the man, I'm glad I was able to help that child." She moved closer and embraced him from behind. His muscles rose and fell against her chest with every breath and she shuddered. She had never been quite this intimate before. "You helped save dozens of people," she whispered in his ear, "That's the best you could have done, and you did it, but now we need to leave."

There was a flash of light behind them and they both turned. A tear opened up on the rooftop and Booker stepped through. "To true, let's go."

Elizabeth stared at him. "How come you can use tears?" Booker rolled his eyes and grabbed her by the arm. "Hey!" she cried as he tossed her through the tear. She was soon followed by Silas and, after a moment of effort, Melody. Booker climbed out of the tear and closed it behind them. Looking around, they saw they were once more on the Eternal Pathway. "Was that really necessary?" muttered Elizabeth angrily, rubbing her arm.

"Sorry," said Booker, dusting himself off, "But we needed to go."

"So you think the assassin can find us here?" Silas asked.

Booker shrugged, "She can try. The Eternal Pathway is…well, eternal. You could spend your entire life walking it and you wouldn't touch the same wood twice."

Elizabeth looked up and her eyes widened. The fog was drifting away and she could see a lighthouse glowing brightly. "You see that?" she said, pointing.

"A lighthouse," said Booker, "Why is it brighter than the last?"

"Significantly."

"Then we're getting close. Lead on." Elizabeth walked forward until she got to the lighthouses, the others following behind her. She looked around and smiled when she saw what she was looking for. In the distance, a light shone through the fog. It was a visibly brighter than the lighthouse she stood next to. "That way," she said, pointing.

They walked for some time. Each time they got to a lighthouse, Elizabeth would spot one though the fog that was just a tad brighter.

"Ugh!" grunted Booker eventually, "How much longer?"

Silas grinned. "We followed you for days, DeWitt. Have a little patience." Booker rolled his eyes. Elizabeth gazed off into the distance at the next lighthouse. They were getting too bright to look at directly. She couldn't understand how Booker and Silas didn't have to avert their eyes.

As she watched, the light moved. Elizabeth's eyes widened and she ran forward to take a closer look. "Hey! Wait up!" called Silas. The fog parted around Elizabeth as she dashed forward. The light began to swing back and forth as she grew closer.

"What are you?" she muttered as she ran.

"The juicier question is when." Elizabeth tripped over her skirt in surprise. She landed with a grunt on the walkway at the toes of a pair of coifed green loafers.

She rolled over and glared up. "What are you doing here?"

Robert Lutece waved a hanging lantern over her. "Providing perspective."

Elizabeth sighed. "Will you ever stop speaking in cryptic riddles?"

"What would be the fun in that?" Robert offered her a hand and Elizabeth took it. He pulled her to her feet and smiled at her. "You look well." If looks could kill, Robert would be rotting in his grave. He sighed and tossed his lantern into the water, putting it out with a hiss. "Here." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small, thin rectangle

"What's this?"

Robert handed it to Elizabeth. "It is called a cassette. You put it into a cassette and it makes pre-recorded sounds, it could be music, a message, or a reminder from yourself."

Elizabeth looked it over. "Well? Which is it?"

"The truth."

Elizabeth glanced up at him. "God, I hate you."

"I know." Robert checked his watch and he gave a reluctant sigh. "I'm afraid I have to leave due to reasons of vengeance, but this cassette should explain everything. See if you can find a cassette player in the first world."

Elizabeth slipped the cassette into her holster next to her gun. "You know where the first world is?"

"Indeed."

"Are we close?"

Robert gave her a sad look, his eyes full of pity. "Unfortunately," he said softly.

"Elizabeth!" Silas emerged from the fog. As he did, Robert drifted away, merging and shrinking into the shadows, becoming one with the mist. "Elizabeth, what's wrong?"

Elizabeth looked out into the endless mist. "My God." She whispered. The lighthouse had to be at least a mile away, but it was so bright and blazing that she had trouble _not_ seeing it. "Please tell me you see that."

"See what?" Elizabeth turned. Silas's face was lit up like he was staring directly at a setting sun, yet his eyes were open and he wasn't even flinching from the light. Elizabeth closed her eyes and turned back to the lighthouse. She could see the light through her lids, and it was just as blinding and scorching.

"I think," she breathed slowly, "I think we found it. The first world, Silas, its right over there."

Booker emerged from the fog behind them. "Then lets go!" he grinned.

Silas laughed as Melody squawked behind him. "What're we waiting for?" Elizabeth laughed as well and dashed off towards the lighthouse, the others hot on her heels.

The lighthouse was actually much further away than she had thought, but they all laughed and ran the entire way, overjoyed to have finally found what they were looking for. When they finally arrived at the lighthouse, it was so bright that Elizabeth had to walk backwards to keep her hurting her eyes. "Okay, are we ready?"

Booker didn't reply. He grabbed the doors of the lighthouse and flung them open, jumping inside. Silas took Elizabeth by the hand. "I think that's a yes." He led her into the lighthouse, Melody bringing up the rear.

Once beyond the door, the light faded an Elizabeth blinked the spots from her eyes. Once she could see, she looked around and gasped. The lighthouse was on a dock on the coast of a great and mighty ocean. Powerful waves the size of buildings crashed up against a rocky beach. For a moment, nothing looked particularly out of place; the clouds hung like candy in the sky, the ocean, while rougher than Elizabeth remembered, was still made of water. It looked like a perfectly normal world.

That's when the Big Daddy groaned its way out of the ocean, pushed forward by a heavy wave. In its wide arms was a massive bathysphere. The Big Daddy plopped the vessel on the stone beach and the hatch popped open. A man dressed in a beige suit and straw hat stepped out with a smile on his face. A boy and a woman climbed out behind him. The man inhaled deeply. "Ah," he sounded content, "Rapture's a fun place, but it's good to get some fresh air again."

The woman sighed and pushed her chest out, cracking her back. "I wish they could find a better way to travel there," she complained, "I hate being cramped up."

The Big Daddy lumbered forward and reached into the bathysphere, pulling out a giant handful of luggage and suitcases. He gently laid them on the stones and the man turned back to the mechanical beast. "Thanks for the safe trip!" he said, "Billy, thank the nice Big Daddy."

The boy grinned nervously at the Big Daddy. "Thanks." The Big Daddy saluted and turned, walking wordlessly back into the water and disappearing under the waves.

At the lighthouse, Silas, Booker, and Elizabeth watched the interaction in shock. "Really?" muttered Elizabeth, "I'd hoped we were done with this nonsense."

"That was…unexpected." Said Booker. Melody let out a loud shriek.

On the beach, the family was picking up it's luggage when they heard the cry. "Hey there!" called the father looking up, "That's a nice Songbird you got there! Going to Columbia?"

Silas and Elizabeth exchanged a glance. Columbia was in this world along with rapture. "Let me try something," he whispered. "Ah, no! We're going to Kiln City!"

The mother smiled. "Oh! I have family there! Quite a trip you've got in front of you!"

Booker rubbed his temples. "Forget this," he muttered. He started walking down the pathway towards the beach. Silas and Elizabeth looked at each other, shrugged simultaneously, and then followed. As they walked down the dock, a slick-looking car pulled into sight from around a rocky dune. A woman in a chauffer outfit emerged from the car and helped the family begin loading their luggage into the trunk.

Booker walked up to them. "Hey, what year is it?"

The boy gave him a funny look as his parents climbed into the car along with the driver. "It's 2014 silly! Even I know that!" The boy crawled into the back seat and strapped himself in.

The father leaned out of the window. "Best of luck to ya, strangers!" he called as the car took off back the way it came. Booker stood still for a moment before falling to his knees.

Elizabeth walked up to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," said Booker, "Just…are you sure this is it?"

Elizabeth stood tall and closed her eyes. The late afternoon sun poured over her and her hair blew out in the wind. She took a deep sniff of the sea air and felt the smooth stones beneath her mocassins. There was something about this place, about this world, that was unexplainable. It was like there was a certain spirit, a specific tone that only this world could provide, yet she felt like she had heard it a thousand times before. She opened her eyes. "Yeah, this is it. The first world."

Silas bent down and picked up a rock. "The birthplace of all reality, he murmured, tossing it into the sea, "I thought it might be more impressive."

"It is," said Booker, "Look." He pointed to the sky. The moon was appearing in the sky as the sun set. Even though it was still just a faint outline in the sky, the curved shadow in front of it was evident. "Cosmopolis, and it's not hiding its orbit."

Elizabeth stared at the celestial domed city. "How much you want to bet Jack's city is here too?"

Silas shook his head with a rueful smile. "I don't make bets I can't win."

Booker stood. "This is one big world," he grunted.

Elizabeth nodded in agreement. "It might be hard to find Comstock."

"But we have the element of surprise, a Songbird, and two inter-dimension travelers on our side." Said Silas with confidence. Elizabeth smiled, his courage was infectious.

Booker looked off into the sun set. "Let's find a place to rest for the night. We'll do some research tomorrow and figure out our next move. For all we know, Comstock could be President or something."

"From what we just saw, I'd say Rapture is some kind of vacation spot here." Said Silas, "And this beach is some kind of drop-off and pick-up zone for tourists. There's probably some kind of hotel nearby that could accommodate guests on their way to the city."

"Right," Booker looked away from the sunset and gazed over the ocean, his eyes playing with the horizon, "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up. I need some alone time." Elizabeth nodded and motioned for Silas to go with her. They followed the path of the car through a pair of dunes and out of sight. Melody beat her wings, sending rocks flying as she flew into the air to keep after them.

When they were gone, Booker sat down and stared over the darkening sea. "I'm here," he whispered, "I'm finally here." He picked up a rock and tossed it up and down. He gently lay on his back and stared at the pink sky. "Phase 1 is complete."

. . .

Please review!

I already know how I'm going to end this (don't worry, I still have a few more chapters to get through before I even start to wrap this up) but out of curiosity, I want to know what direction you guys think I'm going in. Am I being too subtle? Too obvious? Should I be one or the other or is somewhere in the middle ideal? Let me know and thanks for reading!


	10. Sleeping Through Secrets

Same disclaimers as before

Chapter 10: Sleeping Through Secrets

Elizabeth, Silas, and Melody stood by the side of the paved road. The beach was behind them and the setting sun was illuminating the road, showing it ran north to south. As one, the three travelers looked to the north and, after a few seconds, looked to the south. As far as they could see, there were no cars coming in either direction.

"What do we do now?" asked Silas.

Elizabeth shrugged. "We wait for Booker, I guess." She sat down cross-legged on the dirt at the side of the road.

"Your skirt will get dirty," Silas pointed out, "Here, stand up." Elizabeth complied, dusting herself off as Silas took off his cloak. He lay it down upon the dirt and sat on one side off it, patting the space next to him.

Elizabeth smiled and sat down. "Thanks,"

"The least I could do." For a moment, they sat in silence, staring at the last vestiges of light falling under the horizon.

"Mmm," hummed Elizabeth. She leaned her head against Silas's shoulder. "No matter where I go or what world I'm in, the sunset is always so beautiful."

"I'm still getting used to it," said Silas, "All of this is so new to me." He slowly wrapped his arm around Elizabeth, pulling her body close to him. Her heart began to beat faster and heavier. "The sunset is beautiful," he continued, "But I have seen prettier things."

Elizabeth sat up and Silas quickly dropped his hand from her side. She shook her head a bit to clear it. She was a 28 year-old woman damnit! She wasn't some hormone-driven, naive teenage girl anymore. Silas glanced at her. "Elizabeth?"

"Yes?" she forced a cold edge into her voice to even out the affection she had shown only a few moments ago.

"You've killed Booker before, right? Alternate versions of him I mean." Elizabeth nodded. "What's it feel like to get that revenge?"

Elizabeth closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "It's…hard to put into words," she said slowly, "At that moment of the kill, there's a flash that goes through your body. I don't know what it is, maybe satisfaction or justification, maybe righteousness, I don't know. But it's glorious, like all the bad things that have happened to you were almost worth it. But it only lasts a few seconds. Then, it goes away and you have to look for it again." She opened her eyes and glared at the road before them.

"If you kill Comstock here," asked Silas, "Do you think that feeling will last longer?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know. But if Booker is right, and killing Comstock in the first world will rid him from the entire multiverse, then it will be worth it anyway." Silas looked at her in confusion. "Think of all the Elizabeths I'll save," She explained, "Without Comstock, Booker can't give me away and I can't be hurt by Columbia."

Silas nodded in understanding. "Do you think it'll feel like that when I kill the woman who killed my family?"

Elizabeth hesitated. She wondered if she should tell Silas about her dream. After a moment's thought, she decided that she couldn't trust the assassin. Of course a killer would lie to protect herself. "I don't know," she said, "We'll have to find out."

Silas grinned at her and she returned the smile. Besides them, Melody ruffled her metal wings uncomfortably. Silas looked up. "He's coming," he said as he stood. Elizabeth got off his cloak and Silas picked it up and dusted it off as Booker approached from the beach.

"What were you doing?" asked Elizabeth.

Booker shot her a glare. "I've been looking for this place for years," he said, "Let me celebrate in solitude."

"Where do we go from here?" asked Silas, slipping into his cloak.

"Washington," said Booker, "The government keeps records of every American citizen. If we can gain access to the National Registry, we can find out where Comstock lives."

Elizabeth frowned. "Shouldn't we just look in Columbia?"

Booker shrugged. "Maybe Comstock didn't create Columbia in this world. Maybe he lives in Portland, or Boston, or Colorado Springs. Maybe he doesn't even live in America."

Elizabeth sighed and rubbed her temples. "This is going to be more difficult than I thought, isn't it?"

"You didn't think that erasing somebody from existence was going to be easy, did you?" asked Booker with a grin.

Silas patted Melody's neck. "So, which way to Washington?" Booker shrugged.

Elizabeth groaned and rubbed her shoulder. "Let's just look for the nearest town; someone there can point us in the right direction."

Silas nodded. "Do you think it's safe to ride Melody here?"

"Are you kidding?" asked Booker with a grin, "You heard those people on the beach. In this world, Songbirds're as common as cars." Together, they climbed onto Melody. The bird shrieked excitedly as she spread her wings and jumped into the air. As she did so, Elizabeth felt the tape that Robert had given her jump in her pocket. She quickly put a hand to her thigh to keep it in place. She glanced behind her and saw Booker giving her a strange look. "You're entitled to your secrets," she shouted over the rushing wind, "I'm entitled to mine."

Booker narrowed his eyes but shrugged. "Fair enough." Melody flew just under the clouds. Unlike the Songbird she'd ridden in the battle at Jack Ryan's city, Melody's flight was smooth and fluid, like she was born, not built, to work in the skies. She didn't bounce and rumble with turbulence, she flowed with it, bending through wind like a dart. Each beat of her wings sent a soft, pleasant vibration through her body, a soothing sensation to her passengers.

Elizabeth looked over the side of the steed and gasped. Below them, grassy plains stretched far into the distance. Dirt roads formed a perfect grid, each square several miles across. There were occasional farm houses, but for the most part, the world was devoid of civilization. She felt queasy and pulled her head back onto Melody, squeezing her eyes tightly.

"There!" shouted Silas. Elizabeth cracked open one eye and looked in the direction Silas pointed. On the horizon, a city of bright lights sparkled against the night sky. Melody squawked and twisted to the side. Elizabeth clutched onto the metal plates on her back, desperate to stay on. There was a rush of wind as a second Songbird, hidden by the night, flew by.

"Hey! Watch it!" shouted the Songbird's male rider as he vanished into the night sky once more.

"Silas!" shouted Booker as Melody righted herself, "Get us lower!" Silas kicked Melody's neck and she fell into a shallow dive. The city was now in full sight. It covered the entire skyline, as big as any city Elizabeth had ever seen. It seemed to pop up from nowhere, the grass fields suddenly giving way to towering skyscrapers. The noise from the city, honking cars, screeching tires, and angry voices, drowned out the wind.

"There!" shouted Silas once more. He pointed to a large tower on the edge of the city. It was a tall building with a wide hangar at the top. Inside, Elizabeth could see a coup of Songbirds. Silas steered Melody into the hangar and she landed with a thump.

The hangar was dark, but Elizabeth could see the walls lined with giant cupboards, each holding a Songbird, sleeping with its head tucked under a wing.

"Hello?" called Booker, slipping off Melody's back, "Anyone here?"

A light switched on and a door on the far end of the room opened. In walked a woman in trousers and a blouse. She rubbed her eyes and regarded the odd trio before her. "It's a little late to be docking," she said as she approached them, "But we are victims of circumstance. Welcome to the Sleeping Songbird of New York, our rates are-"

"We're just here for directions," interrupted Booker, "Which way to Washington? Do you know?"

"Washington?" the woman yawned, "It's a three hour flight due South." Booker nodded. He reached into his bag and drew out a gold coin and flipped it to the woman who stared at it. "Is…is this gold?"

Booker smiled and gave a tipped an invisible hat to the woman. "Much obliged, ma'am." He climbed back onto Melody and Silas steered her out of the coup. They flew away from the city towards the South. "Keep us low, Silas," said Booker.

Elizabeth glanced back at her father. "I've been meaning to ask," she said, "What was that stuff you used back at the battle at Jack's city?"

Booker grinned and reached into his bag. He pulled out two vials of black liquid. "This is CAIN," he said, shaking the vial on the left, "It amplifies any vigor or plasmid a thousandfold. It's also made from the Sprigs virus combined with equal measure ADAM and EVE. If you're not immune, it'll turn you into a super-powered corpse. That's what we fought back there; they cover themselves in black to hide their disfigurement. Even if you're immune to Sprigs, this stuff is highly addictive. It'll turn you into a vicious monster, but lord does it make you powerful. This on the other hand," he shook the vial on the right, "Is ABEL. Mix ADAM, EVE, and a few secret ingredients and you get this stuff. It enhances the muscles, makes you faster, stronger, more durable. It turns you into a god among warriors."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "I'm sensing a 'but' coming."

Booker nodded. "But it only lasts about five minutes. You could shoot yourself up with ten litters of the stuff or half a teaspoon, but your body can only handle the effects for so long."

"Cool stuff."

Booker grinned. "You're old pal Fink made 'em."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah, after he got his hands on some ADAM from Rapture, he went crazy, churned out an entire line of the stuff before he died."

Elizabeth hesitated. "How did he die in your world?"

Booker smirked. "You killed him." Elizabeth shuddered and turned away. "Oh, what?" sneered Booker, "You take pride in killing me over and over, but you can't handle killing anyone else?"

"Shut up," she muttered.

"We've got a few hours till we get to Washington," said Silas with a yawn, "Elizabeth, think you can steer Melody?" Elizabeth gulped. She had absolutely no idea how to direct the massive metal bird, but she knew Silas hadn't gotten rest since they left Kiln City almost three days ago. He deserved some sleep.

"I'll give it a try." She shimmied up the bird's back and Silas scooted backwards for them to change places. Elizabeth shook and licked her lips. Her legs were clenched tightly around Melody's neck as she stared out over the expansive skyline.

She felt Silas resting his head on her back and she inhaled sharply. For some time, they flew in silence. Elizabeth found that she didn't really have to steer Melody, the bird remained fairly level and flew straight. Eventually, she felt Silas's breath on her back become slow and rhythmic, signaling that he had finally fallen asleep.

Elizabeth took the opportunity to reflect. She glanced up at the night sky expecting to see the multitudes of lighthouses stretching outwards. Her eyes widened and she let out a short gasp that caused Silas to grumble in his sleep. Above her were thousands of twinkling, sparkling stars, but not one lighthouse. She couldn't see the billions of doorways into other worlds like she usually could; instead she saw only pinpricks of light etched against the night sky.

"Booker!" she whispered so as not to wake Silas, "Booker, I can't see the lighthouses."

Behind her, Booker gulped audibly. "It must be something to do with this being the first world, the same way you couldn't open tears in my world." he reasoned. Elizabeth nodded, but her distress was not assuaged. She felt naked and defenseless without access to her powers. Sure Booker had forbidden her from opening tears, but to find herself physically without her abilities made her nervous.

"Does this mean I can't open tears here either?"

Booker shrugged. "I wouldn't risk it." Elizabeth tore her eyes away from the sky, trying to deny the loss of her powers in this world.

They flew for awhile in utter silence. Neither wanted to talk to other and they thought Silas deserved to sleep undisturbed. Elizabeth would occasionally brave a glance over Melody's head to peer at the ground below. To the East, the Atlantic Ocean rolled in and out rhythmically. The entire eastern seaboard seemed to be covered by a lattice grid of fields, interrupted by the occasional village and hamlet. A few times, they came across cities, jutting up like daggers from the Earth. Elizabeth managed to direct Melody to fly around the cities, although their noise would make Silas stir occasionally. The cities stretched for miles, but always cut off abruptly, giving way to an expanse of fields.

After a few hours of flight, Elizabeth risked a comment. "It's so empty," she whispered.

Booker grunted. "You should have seen Kiln City before the quarantine," he said, "Before everyone was forced into the various quarters, we had room to move around. It wasn't this vast obviously, but at least you had some personal space."

Elizabeth hesitated. "Aren't you 18?"

"Almost 19, why?"

"Silas said the quarantine went into effect before he was born, and he's older than you." Booker remained quiet and Elizabeth carefully turned to look at him over her shoulder. "You've been lying to me since the start, haven't you?"

Booker gave a small smile. "Would you expect any less of me?"

Elizabeth turned back. "I thought I could trust you," she said, "I agreed to put my faith in you and, in exchange, I expected the same."

"No," Booker replied harshly, "You put your faith in me and in return you expected Comstock's head on a platter. I'll give you what you want, but you've killed thousands of me. If there's something I feel you need to know, I'll tell you, but anything unimportant? I keep those facts to myself. Besides, you said it yourself; we're both entitled to our private secrets."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and gnashed her teeth. "Can you at least tell me this?"

"What?"

"Why did we need a Ryan? Why do we need Silas?"

Booker smirked. "You want to know why we brought your boyfriend into harm's way. That's cute."

"He's not my boyfriend." Elizabeth hissed softly.

Booker chuckled. "Give it time. We need a Ryan because a while before I went looking for you, Silas Ryan came to be through a tear and told me we would need a Ryan to kill Comstock."

Elizabeth turned and cocked an eyebrow. "Silas? Came through a tear?"

Booker shrugged. "Believe it or not, I don't care."

Elizabeth grunted and turned back. "We're here." In the distance, a city shot up just like the others. But the buildings were smaller, one towering above the rest. A pale obelisk overlooked the entire city like a watchful rook in a game of chess.

Elizabeth had been in Washington before. One version of Booker had been a U.S. senator who had given her away to cover up the fact that he had an illegitimate child before an election. It had taken forever to kill him, so much security. Anyhow, one of Elizabeth's most prominent memories of Washington were of the famous city law that no building may be taller than the Washington Monument. It made the obelisk seem like the biggest thing in the world. Here, it really was the biggest thing in the world. It towered a hundred times taller than the one she had seen before, reaching so far into the clouds, she couldn't see the tip.

"And that," said Booker, "Is what we call an inadequacy issue."

Elizabeth gently shifted backwards, waking Silas with a groan. "Silas, we're here." Silas blinked and rubbed his eyes.

He saw the massive Washington Monument, his face unchanging. "At this point, you could show me a dime the size of a state and it wouldn't surprise me," he grunted, "Where're we going?" They flew over the low buildings of the city. Below them, cars honked and Songbirds screeched from their garages.

Booker scooted forward. "Just go down, we'll ask directions to the National Registry." Silas quickly traded places with Elizabeth. As they passed each other, Silas gave her a sidelong glance. Elizabeth set her jaw, ignoring the look. With her true master back in control, Melody squawked happily and dove on command. She pulled up harshly over a crowded city street.

"Hey!" shouted Booker. The pedestrians on the sidewalk looked up at him with mild interest. "Anyone know how to get to the National Registry from here?"

"The Registry?" cried a man, "That's in the Treasury in Columbia."

Booker blinked in confusion. "Columbia?"

"Did I stutter?" snorted the man as he walked off, "Tourists. Just take the Monument. Or your Songbird, either way'll get you there."

Elizabeth turned to look at Booker. "You don't think…"

Booker paled. "Silas, get us above the clouds." Silas complied and Melody beat her wings quickly. Within minutes, they were soaring through wet clouds, breaching the top and entering a sunny paradise.

Silas gasped in surprise. "Oh! It's beautiful!"

"You've gotta be kidding me," groaned Booker.

"Here we go again," muttered Elizabeth, looking out over the floating city of Columbia, "Just like old times, eh Booker?"

. . .

Thanks for the reviews! Be sure to write more!

Sorry this chapter took me a while to get out. When I started this, I knew how I was going to begin and end it, but now that we're entering the middle I'm struggling. Don't worry, I'll keep this going until it's over, but know that the next few chapters might take a while.


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